Shades of Grey
by Peter Smith
Summary: The seventh story in the 'Junior Rangers' series. A mistake by Zordon 600 years ago comes back to haunt the Rangers as a fallen hero returns to claim the Grey Power Coin, and Rita makes a move for her ultimate goal.
1. Chapter 1

Author's notes - this is the seventh story in my "Junior Rangers Saga" series of fanfic, so I'd definitely recommend a quick look through the series so you know what's going on here. This story takes place two weeks after "Week to Remember", and is a kind of season finale for my series - not the last story, but a season finale. So expect some pretty cool things to happen here. The very last episode of MMPR s1 had Zac using Tommy's Dragon Shield to fight the Oysteriser, and I thought I'd do something like that but a little different. Anyway, enjoy the show:) 

**Chapter One**

_Framed against the setting sun, Callan stood at the very crest of the hill and stared down over the city of Azhron before him._

_The city was bathed in golden shadow and appeared deceptively beautiful in the evening light, but Callan knew exactly what those shadows were hiding. This was a place where evil gathered and plotted, where monsters protected by the city walls were free to stalk the streets, their evil tolerated and ignored by the city's king. Content to rule this dark city, Azhron's king was a man who had everything he'd ever wanted and only wanted more. The cities and lands around Azhron had held out as long as they could but had fallen one-by-one, and armed with his dark power, the king would no doubt eventually reach for the stars._

_Or at least try to, Callan thought. Because this city had stood for long enough. At his back was an army of more than a thousand men. Having them follow him into battle chanting his name in victory was everything he'd missed. It felt like fire in his blood, like life itself._

_One of the soldiers approached from behind. "Lord Callan," he began, "we await your command..."_

_Callan nodded and turned back to the army. "Fight the monsters in the city however you can," he called, "but the Shadow Knights are men - treat them accordingly even if they will not do the same." He paused, and raised his voice. "Fear no darkness! This night we strike as lightning, and I swear this city of evil will see no sunrise. To arms!"_

_From all around him came the roar of a thousand men shouting in victory. Callan smiled beneath his visor, and summoning his Power Blasters with a thought, the Grey Power Ranger turned back to the city and charged forward down the hill, a thousand soldiers sweeping down behind him in his wake._

* * *

Nobody ever invited winter to the Sunshine Coast, but it had a long history of showing up anyway. The sky remained beautifully clear and the sun still shone as brightly as ever, but with July came the year's shortest days, coldest nights and morning breezes with a chilling bite. At school, it took everybody a few days to recover from the week at Tallebudgera. School camp was an event celebrated almost as much as the final day of school in December, and we all found it hard to leave the week behind. But as life slowly returned to normal, a new goal came into sight - the two week winter school holidays, which were only a couple of weeks away and closing in fast.

But as every student can tell you, the end of term brings both good and bad, as exams and assignments all begin piling up. So with a towering pile of work that needed finishing, the second-last Saturday before the holidays saw me retreat to the Youth Centre for the afternoon, to one of the tables around the corner behind the Juice Bar where I steadily worked my way through assignment after assignment.

"Here you go Peter," came a voice, and I looked up from my workbook as Ernie placed a glass on my table.

"Ernie, thanks," I said, "but I don't have any..."

Ernie grinned. "On the house," he said. "Figured you could use it. Besides, you and Zac are my best taste-testers. I call it my Club Tropicana smoothie. Lemme know what you think."

"Thanks," I smiled, and as Ernie headed back to the Juice Bar, I leaned over and took a hesitant sip - it was actually pretty good, sweet but tangy.

"Thumbs up on this one Ernie," I called, but glancing back towards the bar, I saw Jason step into the building. Catching sight of me, he smiled and crossed towards me, pulling out a chair as he reached the table.

"Can I sit?" he asked.

"Sure, go for your life," I nodded.

He smiled and sat down opposite me, but glancing across the piles of books scattered around the table, he frowned. "Uh, Pete," Jason began, "you do realise that the weekend is for fun stuff, right?"

I laughed. "I'm like buried under homework right now," I replied, "and everyone else is busy this afternoon. Teresa and Scott are shopping with their parents, Sarah's at a netball game and I'm not sure about Brendan. I figured I might as well get something done today. What about you, why aren't you out enjoying the afternoon?"

"Same reason, actually," he replied. "Billy and Trini are at computer club, Kim and Tommy are on a date, and Zac's teaching a class this afternoon."

"So it's just the two of us," I said. "The outcasts of the bunch."

Jason smiled, and nodded to the open workbook in front of me. "What are you working on, anyway?"

I glanced down. "English assignment, due Monday."

He frowned. "Sorry."

I shook my head. "We have to write a story, six hundred words," I explained. "I know it sounds really geeky but this is totally my kind of thing. I love writing, I guess I just love stories in general, you know? Writing or reading them."

Jason smiled. "Lemme guess," he began. "Superheroes?"

"How could you tell?"

"Lucky guess," he replied.

"I don't actually read that many comics," I said. "I've just always liked superheroes, you know? Something cool about them."

Jason nodded, and leaned back in his chair. "My favourite comic book when I was younger was _JLA_, the Justice League," he said. "All the greatest heroes would team-up to kick butt, it was really cool. I've still got them all saved somewhere." He paused, smiling at memories long-forgotten, then glanced down to his wrist. "Speaking of which, still a couple of hours until we meet up with Ian at the Command Centre for training."

I nodded, suddenly remembering the appointment this afternoon I'd almost forgotten about. "It's a good thing you came along," I said. "I was so busy I almost forgot. It'll be great to see Ian again, though. I wonder what kind of surprises Zordon has in store for us?"

Jason leaned forward. "What makes you say that?"

"We were talking about Zordon before," I replied. "Like, he didn't tell you guys about our Power Coins, he didn't tell us about Brendan's or Ian's power coin. You gotta admit, the guy's good at keeping secrets."

Jason nodded slowly, looking away. "Yeah, I guess he is," he said. "I'd never thought about it like that before."

I frowned. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," he replied, looking back to me with a smile and reaching for my workbook. "Fine. So let me have a look at the masterpiece. Maybe I can offer a critique, or something..."

I smiled, and passed him my book. "Just be gentle, I'm very fragile..."

* * *

"You know, you were right," said Tommy, as side-by-side, he and Kimberly crossed the road, passed the Moffat Beach post office and continued down towards the beach. "That history essay can definitely wait until Monday. This day is too good to go to waste."

Kim smiled, feeling the sunshine on her skin. "The breeze has died down, the sun's warm - it is definitely the right kind of afternoon," she said, then took Tommy's hand in her own. "Particularly with the company."

Tommy laughed. "Speaking of which, what time do we have to meet everybody at the Command Centre?"

Kimberly glanced to her communicator. "Four o'clock," she said, "so we've still got two hours. Plenty of time."

"Cool," Tommy replied. "It'll be good to see Ian again."

Kimberly smiled, and turned to him. "I'm sorry, I've gotta ask the question - how come you like Ian so much?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we know you weren't that big a fan of the Junior Team originally," Kim said. "I'm just wondering what's so different about Ian, that's all."

Tommy nodded. "That's fair," he replied. "I'm honestly not sure. The Junior Team seemed to jump into being Rangers too quickly, you know? Ian just seems like he knows that he doesn't know what he's gotten himself into. Does that make sense?"

Kim paused, then shook her head. "I'm sure if Billy was here, it would," she replied. Crossing the street, the two Rangers continued on past a grassy park where a large family was sitting around a picnic rug a few metres across from them, an elderly couple fussing over a grandson wearing a green and blue shirt. The boy was wielding a plastic sword and had what looked to have been a toy morpher strapped around his stomach.

"So Brett, your mother tells us you want to be a Power Ranger when you grow up?" the woman chuckled.

The boy nodded. "Of course," he replied, waving the sword wildly. "They get to save the world and stuff."

The two Rangers slowed to listen to the conversation. "If that was a real Power Sword, they'd want to be sitting a little further back," Tommy whispered, and Kim laughed.

The boy's grandfather smiled. "I see you've already got a colour picked out," he said. "Brett, the Green Ranger..."

But the boy immediately looked up. "I don't wanna be the Green Ranger," he frowned. "He's evil. I wanna be red, or maybe even orange..."

Hearing this, Tommy's expression fell, and he quickly looked away. Glancing across to the Green Ranger, Kim frowned, and she quickly steered him back down towards the beach.

"You shouldn't worry about things like that," she said. "He was just playing, he didn't mean anything."

Tommy shook his head. "It's not that," he said, then turned to her. "I just hear that a lot. 'Whoa, look out for the scary Green Ranger, he might turn evil again...'. You guys probably don't notice and that's cool, it's just being the ex-badguy..." His voice trailed off, and he looked away. "It's not something that ever gets easier to listen to, that's all."

Kimberly reached down and took Tommy's hand. "Yeah, but I know you're more than that," she said, "isn't that enough? C'mon, we've still got like half the afternoon to ourselves," and they continued down towards the beach.

* * *

"Okay, so there's food in the fridge, and I left a list of phone numbers by the phone in case you need them," said Mrs Thompson, glancing through the family home from Ian to the kitchen.

Ian nodded. "I'm sure I'll get by," he said.

"Still, remember, your brother is staying with the Evans family on the other side of town and I left the number to reach him along with the others," his mother continued, in that classic way of mothers everywhere. "We'll be back by Monday morning, but we can come back earlier if you need us..."

Ian couldn't help but smile. "I'll be fine."

His father appeared in the hallway behind his mother, a suitcase in either hand. "Kate, I think we've reached the point of genuinely embarrassing our son," he said, and leaving the suitcases in the hall, he stepped forward to clasp Ian's shoulder. "We won't be far, just checking out the new house. Have fun."

"Thanks," Ian replied.

Kate Thompson chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully. "Still," she began, "we'll call when we get in, just to..."

"You really don't need to worry," Ian said quickly, stepping forward. "I mean I'm probably going to head over to, uh, Lochlan's house to catch up on some homework, or something. Maybe even stay over. So I wouldn't call, I'm probably not going to be home."

Both parents nodded. "Are you sure you'll be all right?" Kate asked.

Ian nodded. "I prom..." he began, but just couldn't bring himself to say the word. "I'll be okay," he said. "Now c'mon, you're going to be late."

Kate glanced down to her watch, and suddenly realising Ian was right, both parents bustled outside and loaded up the car, both giving Ian light hugs before reluctantly - although that was, to be far, more on behalf of his mother than his father - getting into the family car and driving away.

But as they left, Ian couldn't help but glance down to the communicator on his wrist and frown, before looking back to the departing car and brushing the hair from his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he called softly, before turning and heading back inside.

* * *

It would take her months, Rita Repulsa reflected, to list every single reason why she hated the planet before her.

Standing in the observatory, the highest room in the Lunar Castle, and looking out over the grey moonscape towards the Earth, Rita didn't see a blue and white planet hanging peacefully in space but something that she should have been hers, something that kept inexplicably escaping her grasp. She'd done what most of those spineless humans crawling across the planet's surface had only ever dreamed of - acquired the power to fulfill her every wish, and when those desires had only gotten grander, she had simply gained more power in response. She was better than them, and by every right deserved to own them, every single person living to serve her and her alone.

_That _particular thought she didn't hate.

But even after all this time, not even Zordon suspected the witch's true motivations. Why she'd spent so long attacking one solitary city, desperately seeking to level it at any cost, and she took comfort in the thought. Defeating the Power Rangers was only a means to an end - once they were gone, nothing stood between her and her true goal. That didn't it wouldn't be an enjoyable end, though.

Watching as Zordon had chosen a Grey Ranger and thus completed the team had been a crippling blow, and it had taken her almost a week to recover. Until she remembered something important that it seemed Zordon himself had forgotten. An ancient foe, waiting for the opportunity to strike and take his revenge. Waiting, in fact, for the opportunity Zordon had just handed over on a platter. And even more importantly, this foe had something Rita needed.

Behind her, Finster appeared at the doors to the observatory and cautiously entered the room, announcing his presence with a cough.

"My Queen...?" he began.

She acknowledged his presence with a nod. "Yes, what is it?"

"I thought you should know, our deep space scanners just detected a teleportation trail moving through space towards Earth," Finster replied. "It should be here in a matter of minutes."

"And from what planet, Finster?" Rita asked.

"Incoming from Horath, my Queen," Finster said.

Rita could barely hide her delighted grin. "Excellent," she said, turning back to her resident scientist. "Then I think it's about time we got to work..."

* * *

Jason and I materialised in the Command Centre in twin flashes of red and orange. Everyone turned to us as we stepped forward to join the group, and it looked like we were the last two to arrive.

"We still waiting for anybody?" I asked.

Zac nodded. "Just Ian," he replied. "He's not here yet."

"We've still got a few minutes," said Trini.

Zordon glanced down over the group. "Alpha and I are just configuring the training programs for this afternoon," he boomed. "We'll only be a few more minutes," and the sage looked back to Alpha, standing by the console under his plasma tube.

Everyone nodded, and Teresa turned to Jason and I. "So what kept you guys?"

"Ernie's in one of his creative moods," I said. "He wouldn't let us out the door until we'd tried about three dozen new shake flavours."

Jason nodded. "Yeah. Just for the record, the Club Tropicana is great," he said. "The Guava Surprise on the other hand is, well, surprising."

Everyone laughed, and as Jason turned to the rest of the Senior Team, I stepped over to join the Junior Team, looking over to Sarah.

"So how'd the match go?" I asked.

Sarah smiled. "We kicked their butts," he said. "I mean, it was a pretty close game... nah, we kicked their butts."

We all laughed, and Brendan glanced to his watch. "Man, I wish Ian would get here."

Scott turned to me. "He's not kidding, either," he said. "We've been watching him bounce off the ceiling for the last ten minutes."

I smiled. "Well we haven't seen him since last week's training session."

"Exactly," Brendan replied. "Besides, I really want to talk to him about something."

On the other side of the room, Jason had walked over to the Seniors. "Hey guys," he said, lowering his voice. "I know this sounds a little weird, but do you think Zordon maybe doesn't trust us?"

Zac nodded. "Between the superhuman powers, the weapons and the fifteen-storey robots, definitely not," he replied, deadpan.

Kimberly smiled. "Yeah Jason, that's pretty left field."

"I'm serious," he replied, then glanced quickly up to Zordon's plasma tube before continuing. "I mean, in terms of what he tells us. He didn't tell us about the other set of power coins, about Brendan's or Ian's coin or about Ultramarine. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but that's a lot to withhold, you know?"

"He was probably going to tell us eventually," Trini said. "Things just tend to happen quickly around here."

Jason looked back up to Zordon, about to reply when a teleportation streak suddenly blazed down through the ceiling, and in a flash of silver light, Ian materialised before the team, glancing around the room and smiling. "Hey guys," he said, his blue eyes shining.

Tommy laughed. "Ian, hey," he said.

Brendan stepped forward, beaming one of his patented million-watt grins. "It's great to see you dude," he said. "We missed you."

Ian nodded, glancing from Brendan to the rest of us. "I missed you guys too."

"So how have you been?" Sarah asked.

"Good, really good," he replied, but he couldn't help thinking back to this afternoon with his parents, and his smile fell. "For the most part."

Kim frowned. "That means not good," she said. "What's wrong?"

Ian looked up. "The side effect of being a superhero," he replied. "I think, without exception I've lied to every single person I've ever met in the last couple of weeks. Getting my 'what I did on camp' stories straight was hard enough, and my parents think I'm studying with Lochlan right now. I get why we have to do it, I just, it doesn't feel that heroic, you know?"

Teresa nodded. "It's hard, but it's just a part of the job," she said.

"There's no real way around it," Trini added. "Trust us, it will get easier."

"Yeah, we've all got our excuses," said Kim. "Tommy and I are at the movies right now."

Billy nodded. "I'm currently scouring local businesses for rare software."

"Hey, I'm at a violin lesson," said Zac, then noticed everybody looking at him. "What?"

I smiled, turning to Ian and gesturing to Teresa and Scott beside me. "The three of us are at a karate lesson in the park with Jason."

Jason frowned. "I'm actually studying at the library right now," he said. "Sorry."

"Well you could've called," I said. "I mean, we went all the way out into the park to meet you..."

Ian smiled. "Thanks guys," he said. "I guess this is something I'll just have to get used to," and he paused. "Oh, and before I forget - I've got a big surprise for everybody, later on in the week."

"Wait, that's it?" Sarah asked. "C'mon, tell us. Our lives are already filled with more than enough surprises."

"Yeah," said Tommy. "What's the deal?"

Ian shook his head and grinned mischievously. "It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you," he said.

"Rangers," boomed Zordon suddenly, and we all turned to the interdimensional sage. "Ian, it is wonderful to see you again, you're looking quite well. Now, Alpha and I have spent the afternoon designing some unique training exercises for the twelve of you, which I hope will..."

Without warning, the Command Centre's alarm suddenly began flashing, the noise cutting Zordon off mid-sentence. Everyone immediately glanced around to each other and then across to Alpha, as the sentient robot began typing furiously at his console.

"Trouble in the city?" asked Jason.

"Affirmative," Alpha nodded. "Ayeyiyi Rangers! Something just teleported into Caloundra from deep space, cloaked so we couldn't see it coming. The sensors are registering a massive energy discharge in the street behind the library, down from the construction site. I'm picking up reports on the police bands as well."

Zac glanced around the group. "Man, somebody picked the wrong afternoon to start somethin' in our town," he said.

"Indeed," said Zordon, and we all looked back up to him. "All right Rangers, morph and head back into Caloundra. Let us show the world what twelve Rangers can accomplish."

I looked across to Ian. "You set?"

He grinned and flashed a thumbs-up. "Let me at 'em."

Jason nodded, and we all reached for our back pockets. "Okay guys, let's do it," he began. "It's morphin' time!"

"Iguanodon!"

"Dilophosaurus!"

"Rhamphorynchus!"

"Brontosaurus!"

"Velociraptor!"

"Stegosaurus!"

"Dragonzord!"

"Mastodon!"

"Pterodactyl!"

"Triceratops!"

"Sabre-Toothed Tiger!"

"Tyrannosaurus!"

* * *

We teleported into the city in twelve flashes of light, materialising on the road behind the library seconds later. But glancing around at the scene facing us, everyone was immediately lost for words.

"Whoa," breathed Sarah.

We'd arrived in the midst of a disaster. All down the street, cars had been flipped onto their sides and lay at weird angles across the road. Further down, we could see a bus lying on its side, the vehicle's windows shattered and undercarriage in sparking ruin. Power poles and street lamps seemed to have been physically torn down, live power cables lying across the pavement, while over beside the library, several people had been pinned to the ground by falling tree trunks.

"Okay, we need to help these people," said Teresa, looking back to the group, "before anybody gets really hurt."

I nodded. "I'm more worried about those power lines than anything else."

"You're right," said Jason. "Junior Team, clear the scene and get everyone to safety. We'll look around for our badguy."

"Right," we all replied, and as the Senior Rangers raced away, the six of us split up - Sarah and Scott ran down to the overturned bus, Teresa and Brendan dashed towards the library, and while Ian raced over to the destroyed cars, I summoned my sword and headed towards the fallen power lines. If I could cut them off at the source, they'd be no danger to anybody.

Across from me, Ian ripped a car door off its hinges, threw it away and dragged the unconscious person within to safety. "Wow," he said, looking around. "You guys have a really nice city, I mean, you can hear the ocean from here." He looked up, and noticed us all looking at him. "Oh. Right. Focus."

Brendan smiled, as he and Teresa lifted a fallen tree trunk and the people trapped beneath crawled to safety. "No, you're totally right," he said. "When the city isn't being blown up, flattened or actively demolished, it's actually a nice place to live."

I laughed, but glancing across to the other side of the street, I caught sight of a shadow darting along the top level of the construction site down the street before disappearing behind a girder, a suspiciously solid-looking shadow given what had happened down here on the street.

"Hey guys," I said, and the Rangers turned to me, "wait here a sec. There's something I'm gonna check out," and I turned and raced away.

"Be careful," called Teresa, and the Rangers went back to work.

* * *

Ignoring the Orange Ranger as I dashed away, the figure stood watching the group from the highest level of the construction site, standing on a thin steel girder seven storeys above the ground, his dark eyes never once leaving the Ranger dressed all in grey. Gritting his teeth behind his mask, the shadow reached down for one of the blasters at his belt.

"Zordon's new Grey Ranger," he growled, his voice low and dangerous. "I wonder if you're as skilled as the one you replaced..."

Hiding was simply not in his nature, but he knew an ambush was his only option, to draw the Grey Ranger out and observe him, his strengths and weaknesses, power and skill. The Grey Ranger wasn't alone, and the figure cursed his luck under his breath - he should've realised the team would stay together. Still, as he raised his blaster, his finger steadily tightening around the trigger, he knew it didn't matter. Everything that should've been his, would be, very soon.

Without warning, a blurred form swept past in a blaze of light, a shining silver sword flashing out of nowhere and slicing the figure's blaster in two. The warrior dropped the blaster in surprise, the two halves falling, ricocheting off the girder and disappearing into the void of air on either side. Looking up, he grimaced - the Orange Power Ranger stood before him, sword in hand.

"Whatever it is you're after," I said, raising my sword, "trust me pal, you ain't getting it." But standing there in front of him, my first impression was that I was facing an evil version of myself. He wore form-fitting grey body armour, his boots and gloves a darker shade of grey, with a small black triangle-design on his chest and blasters hanging at his belt. His helmet had a black visor with a silver mouthguard and looked to have been modelled after some kind of predatory dinosaur, like Jason's or Teresa's helmets but with the teeth and claws left on. And like me, he wore a coin around his waist, but whereas my Power Coin was gold, this coin was black, carved out of some kind of crystal, the markings on the coin strangely similar.

The warrior quickly backed away from me. "What I want is the grey one," he said.

"Ian?" I said, then shook my head. "Not on your life. Guys," and I raised my communicator, "I've got our badguy, top floor of the construction site..." But as I spoke, the warrior suddenly summoned a long blade and leaped forward, slashing the weapon towards me.

I raised my Power Sword and blocked the weapon with a resounding clang before batting the blade away and slicing forward with a horizontal stroke. He ducked nimbly under the blade, knocking me backwards with a rapid kick to the stomach before pressing forward, his blade slicing through the air. I stumbled back, quickly finding my footing on the narrow beam and expertly blocking his attacks. Ducking under a wide horizontal slash, he countered with a low slice, but I easily jumped up and back over the blade. He lunged forward, but I brought my blade down hard, knocking his sword down before sending him stumbling back with a lightning-fast elbow to the jaw.

With the advantage, I pressed forward, stepping towards him and slashing high. The warrior batted the blade away and retaliated, but I raised my sword, blocked his blade and forced it aside before striking home, the tip of my weapon carving through his body armour. He glanced down briefly, looked up and immediately began backing away, turning and racing across the girder away from me. I pushed forward and continued after him, slice after slice slashing through nothing but air. A vertical beam stood ahead of us - the warrior nimbly climbed around it, and as my sword cleaved neatly through it, he turned and took to the air, somersaulting over a wide chasm and dropping lightly onto a catwalk that passed underneath.

No sooner had the warrior landed when he looked up to see the Blue and White Rangers standing on either side of him. Scott leaped forward with a high kick - the warrior ducked under the blow and slashed his sword for Scott as Teresa raced forward, blocking the warrior's arm and forcing him backwards with a blow to the chest. Holding his hand out, the warrior's sword dematerialised, and he struck out for his two opponents, blocking a blow from Teresa and aiming a powerful punch for Scott's stomach. Scott batted away the blow as Teresa kicked high - the warrior dodged the blow before spinning away from the two Rangers and leaping over the railing down onto wooden scaffolding, the supports shaking as he quickly made his way through the wooden maze.

Watching him go, Teresa looked back up to me. "Peter, are you okay?"

"Don't worry about me!" I called. "He's after Ian! Get to Ian now!"

Beneath us, the warrior negotiated his way through the maze of girders and catwalks with ease, putting as much distance as he could between himself and his opponents. Diving down onto a lower plank and rolling to his feet, the warrior came to a sudden stop as hard-light arrows whizzed through the air and thudded into the platform before him. Looking up and around as more arrows rained down on him, he spotted the bow-wielding Pink Ranger standing over him and immediately darted to the left, racing across a connecting catwalk - only to stop short again as Zac suddenly dropped down onto the catwalk before him.

"Dead end dude," the Black Ranger said, and charged.

Without slowing down, the warrior ducked to the side and raced away from Zac, reaching the end of the catwalk, clambering down several metres of support poles before following a walkway out towards the street. But at the end of the beam was nothing but empty space, an atrium of air. An empty, oversized freight elevator hung suspended in the void down below, and hesitating only a second longer, he took to the air once again, somersaulting down onto the platform, finding his footing and immediately turning to see if he'd been followed.

"Power Rangers," he muttered, seeing various brightly-coloured figures climbing through the site towards him. "Be gone, all of you."

"Then do yourself a favour," said Tommy, suddenly behind him. "Don't turn around."

The warrior spun around, immediately swinging a high roundhouse punch towards the Green Ranger. Tommy saw the move coming and ducked under it, striking his opponent back with an uppercut and landing several rapid punches to the warrior's chest. The warrior quickly recovered, blocked and batted away Tommy's fists before smashing him back with a powerful backhand. As Tommy stumbled away the warrior spun on the spot aiming a high tornado kick, but the Green Ranger caught his opponent's foot in midair and spun the warrior away. The warrior regained his balance quickly, and Tommy charged back across the hanging platform.

Racing towards the warrior, he leaped into the air with a high kick, but the warrior stepped around the attack, retaliating with a flurry of punches. Tommy spun under the blows, effectively dodging every attack, before kicking away his enemy's left arm and aiming a lightning-fast heel to his jaw. The warrior narrowly blocked the kick, and smashed Tommy back with a rapid right hook. He charged forward to continue the assault, but Tommy was ready, deftly blocking the warrior's attacks, grabbing his arm and knocking him back with a well-aimed judo chop just as the warrior landed a blow to his shoulder. The two combatants spun away from each other and crashed to the floor.

The warrior quickly jumped to his feet and Tommy tried to follow him - but blinding pain suddenly shot through his body. He cried out in surprise as his legs collapsed beneath him and he dropped to the floor, confused and dazed. All of a sudden, he just felt so weak... As the warrior advanced, he desperately backed away, weakly stumbling back across the elevator before reaching the edge and running out of space. What was happening to him? Why was he suddenly paralysed? He frantically glanced up and around, desperately looking for help, and saw the Red Ranger standing on a girder several floors above.

"Jason!" Tommy cried, when in a sudden flash of light, the Green Ranger demorphed.

Watching the fight from above, Jason looked on in fear as Tommy collapsed, and immediately realised what was happening. His powers had given out on him. Zordon had warned them about this. He glanced around on all sides, calling out to anybody within earshot. "Someone get down there! Get to Tommy!"

Sarah and Billy were closest to the freight elevator, and seeing the danger, they both leaped to the rescue. Quickly crossing steel beams, the two Rangers took to the air and dropped down through the elevator railings, landing side-by-side between Tommy and the warrior. Summoning their Power Weapons with a thought, the Purple and Blue Rangers stepped towards the warrior.

Realising he was outmatched, he quickly turned away from the two Rangers, racing towards the edge of the elevator and leaping into the air, bouncing off a support beam to get a clean uninterrupted path through the girders to the street below.

"Oh no you don't," muttered Jason, and gritting his teeth, the Red Ranger dived off the beam that he was standing on, catching a scaffolding pole and swinging underneath it, soaring through the air on a direct course towards the fleeing warrior.

His momentum keeping him airborne, Jason smashed into the warrior in mid-flight, forcibly changing his path through the air and immediately swinging out with a right hook. The warrior blocked the blow and struck back, but Jason grabbed his armoured gauntlet, and using it for leverage, slammed both feet against the warrior's chest, the warrior crashing out of control to the ground as Jason dropped down onto a girder and snagged a support beam to catch his balance.

_I can't believe I just did that..._

Clearing the construction site, the warrior crashed through the leaves of a tree growing beside the pavement and painfully hitting to the ground. Somehow managing to roll to his feet, the warrior took a minute to catch his breath. But as he found his bearings, he looked up to see another Ranger standing before him, this one dressed entirely in grey.

Approaching the warrior, Ian sized the team's adversary up. "So, you're new in town, right?" he said. "Well, me too, and I gotta say you're really not making a great impression."

The warrior's eyes narrowed behind his helmet. "You," he said angrily, "you with everything that should be mine. And I shall take it back!" The warrior charged forward in a frenzy, swinging blows furiously - Ian reacted instantly, dodging the warrior's punches, stepping around a low kick and blocking a move with his elbow before forcing the warrior back with a blow to the helmet. The warrior recovered and kicked high - Ian spun under the blow, struck away a right roundhouse punch, kicked the warrior's boot away and summoned his Power Blasters as he turned. The warrior spun back towards him and attacked, but Ian raised the blasters and fired, the blasts slamming the warrior back across the street in a blaze of sparks and smoke.

"Ian, you okay?" asked Brendan, as he and Trini dropped down beside him.

Ian nodded. "Fine," he replied, and the two Rangers nodded and leaped after their opponent. Ian made a move to follow, but glancing down, he noticed several drops of what had to have been the warrior's blood on the pavement, doubtless the result of Ian's blast. He reached down and scraped up some of the liquid with his thumb and forefinger, noting it seemed to cling to his fingers.

"Hmm," he said aloud, as Billy joined him, the other Rangers racing past them and catching up to Trini and Brendan. "It's weird."

Billy nodded. "Probably due to his alien physiognomy," he said. "C'mon," and they quickly followed the other Rangers.

The team immediately formed a circle around the defeated grey warrior, but behind us, Jason was slowly helping the still-dazed Tommy to the ground. Reaching the ground level with the powerless Ranger still leaning on his shoulder, Jason had just begun to help him out towards the street when there was a flash of flame, and the two Rangers looked up in surprise to see Rita Repulsa herself a few metres away.

Jason immediately stepped in front of Tommy, summoning his sword with a thought and raising the weapon. "Back off Rita," he said.

The witch rolled her eyes and made no move to attack. "Still blindly following orders from Zordon, are you Jason?" she asked.

"Better than getting beaten down constantly," Jason replied. "What's the loss-rate so far, Rita? Fifty, sixty?"

The witch smiled. "We can trade insults all day," she said, "but if you are going to listen to me then you should know something - at some point in the future, probably a lot closer than you think, that great leader of yours is going to make a huge mistake. And mark my words, it will cost you dearly." And without waiting for a response, she turned and walked away.

Tommy glanced to Jason. "What was that about?" he asked.

Jason shrugged. "No idea," he replied. "Maybe she just needs a hug..."

Out on the street, everybody steadily closed in on the grey warrior, who was ignoring everyone and focussing his attention entirely on Ian.

For his part, Ian's curiosity was rapidly being replaced by shock. "You're here for me, aren't you?" he asked. "Why?"

"You have the nerve to address me?" the warrior replied.

Ian shook his head. "What have I ever done to you?" he asked.

"Answer him," said Trini, raising her Power Daggers. "What do you want?"

"He wants the same thing I want," said Rita Repulsa suddenly, stepping out of the shadow of the building site and striding towards us. As one, we all turned to Rita, watching in silence as she made her way towards the warrior, supremely unconcerned about the ten Rangers around her, before turning to him. "You stand no chance of victory today," she said, her voice oozing honey and acid. "I can help you, but you're going to have to trust me."

The warrior lowered his head, then nodded. Rita smiled, and turned back to us. "Have a pleasant afternoon Rangers," she said with a wicked grin, as her wand began to glow. "We'll be seeing you."

Seconds before the pair teleported away, the warrior turned back to a still-speechless Ian. "This is not over," he said ominously, and with a flash of flame, we were alone on the road.

Our heartbeats returning to normal, everybody slowly lowered their weapons, glancing around to each other as Jason stepped towards us, Tommy hidden from view in the shadows of the building site.

"Everyone okay?" he asked.

"We're all fine," said Kimberly. "But what the heck was that about?"

"That warrior," puffed Zac. "He was..."

"After me," Ian said suddenly, glancing around the group. "He did all this, lured us out, just for me. Why? I've never seen this guy before in my life."

There was a minute of silence as we all looked to each other, nobody able to answer Ian's question. Finally, Trini stepped forward. "Zordon will probably know, if anyone," she said, and wary of the bystanders watching us, she glanced quickly over to Tommy. "But I think we need to head back to the Command Centre, right now."

"You're right," Jason said, "let's go," and with that, we reached for our communicators and teleported away.


	2. Chapter 2

To KevinBoy and Koulagirl -- thanks so much for the compliments. I'm glad you're enjoying the story :). Yeah, a big part of this story is that these kids are all really starting to work together. There are still two teams of 6, separate, but you can see the broader team of 12 taking shape. Anyway, enjoy chapter 2 :)

**Chapter Two**

_The city's main gates had been shattered to rubble, and Azhron's walls were already tumbling down as Callan stormed through the cloud of debris into the city's major square, legions of soldiers spreading out around him on either side. Looking ahead, Callan could see the palace rising above them. Like all tyrants, the city's king believed himself to be eternal and immortal, and stood waiting in his palace unconcerned._

_Callan smiled beneath his helmet. Now was the time to make Azhron's king _very_ concerned._

_But as he continued forward, Callan caught sight of a banner flapping in the billowing clouds of smoke, black with a stylised green 'v' design wreathed in flame. Callan froze on the spot, the frenzied sounds of battle on all sides fading away, and through a clenched jaw, he muttered a single word that sounded like the most ancient of curses._

_"Varian..."_

_A rush of painful memories flooded back through Callan's mind, of helplessness and screams in the night. His grip around the two blasters tightened, and he cracked the handles of the twin blasters without even realising it. He'd been lied to, and the expression behind his visor was one of absolute fury._

_"Zordon, why didn't you tell me?"_

* * *

The twelve of us materialised back in the Command Centre and immediately all looked up to Zordon. It wasn't that the warrior had come close to beating us, although he'd easily held his own against just about everybody here. It was that he had been gunning specifically for our newest member, and I guess it was a matter of how much Ian meant to us that this was the reason everybody was freaked out. 

"Zordon," began Scott, "who was that guy? What was that about?"

"He wasn't with Rita," I said. "He was just as surprised to see her as we were."

"And why was he after me?" Ian asked. "He was after me and me alone, and I've never seen this guy before in my life. So why?"

"If it even _is_ a guy," added Tommy, glancing around the room. "You guys saw the power he was packing. And man, could he fight."

"His name is Callan," said Zordon suddenly, his booming voice echoing through the building. "I recognised him instantly by the symbol on his armour. And he is an incredibly skilled warrior because I taught him to be." There was a minute of silence as we all took this in, and Zordon continued. "Callan was the last Grey Ranger, the last person to use the Iguanodon Power Coin before it passed to you, Ian."

Silence fell. I glanced around to the other Rangers in disbelief. "Zordon, are you serious?" I asked. "This guy Callan, he used to be a Ranger?"

"Yes, he did," Zordon replied. "But I... he is more than six hundred years old. His appearance today has me at a complete loss."

"Ayeyiyi," said Alpha. "Zordon, we scanned every inch of that city. Could we have been wrong?"

Standing beside me, I felt Jason suddenly tense, as words he'd heard earlier came back into his mind. His expression hardened, and I turned to him to find an unreadable look in his eyes. "Zordon," Jason said, his voice strangely calm, "tell us everything, everything you know about this guy. His powers, what he can do, where he's from, his shoe size. Everything."

Zordon nodded. "If you could turn to the viewing screen Rangers. This is not an easy story to tell," and he paused while we all turned to face the back of the room.

As we watched, the screen flashed to life, a picture of a man who looked to be in his early thirties. He was tall, well-built, with warm grey eyes, an easy smile and short blond hair. Beside him, her arms draped around his shoulder, was a woman who I guessed correctly was Callan's wife. She looked graceful and beautiful, with long red hair and an expression of contented love as she gazed up to her husband. In Callan's arms was the third family member, a young boy, and although he had pale skin and red hair, it was easy to see he'd inherited his father's eyes and smile.

"Wow," said Kim. "He looks like a nice guy."

"He was," Zordon replied. "Six hundred years ago, Callan was a warrior king on a distant planet, where he lived with his wife and son, ruling justly over a small kingdom. However, then as now, evil forces existed to conquer and destroy, and one horrible day Callan lost everything to a man named Varian."

The picture changed, and we were now looking at another man, maybe a few years older than Callan, this one standing before a field of warriors, dressed in black and red with a curious 'v' emblem on his robes. He had a cruel smile, and in his dark eyes there was something scary, something unsettling.

"That's Varian?" asked Tommy.

"Yes," Zordon replied. "The only enemy more dangerous than a smart man corrupted by power is an idiot corrupted by power. Varian was a fool and a tyrant, and I still wonder how he managed to amass such dark power."

"And he killed Callan's family?" Trini asked.

"Not alone," Zordon said. "Varian had at his command an army of warriors, the Shadow Knights, mercenaries and thieves and who shared Varian's lust for conquest," and the screen flashed to a troop of soldiers, all wearing black, full-body armour, with spiked gauntlets and a variety of weapons hanging by their belts. Their helmets vaguely resembled those of Roman centurions, and several in the group had red markings on their suits and helmets. I guessed they were the generals.

"Varian also had three monsters as his muscle. There was General Taltos," and the screen showed a tall monster with two large insect-eyes and two pointed antenna on his head, dressed in black and blue carrying a pair of serrated daggers, "and General Xerxes." Another picture flashed before us, a green reptilian beast with two predatory red eyes, a forked serpentine tongue and oddly-spiked armour, the beast's gauntlets, shoulders and helmet all covered in hooked spikes.

"Whoa," said Brendan. "Who's that guy's tailor?"

"Varian's third general was General Wolfbane," Zordon continued, the picture now showing the third of Varian's generals. While the other two monsters were menacing, Wolfbane looked downright frightening - he wore thick black leather over his blue fur, but his left leg and right arm were wrapped in green, thorny vines, and hungry yellow eyes peered down over a long canine snout filled with jagged yellow teeth. "Half-wolf and half-plant, Wolfbane was the strongest of the three. His cruelty and evil were legendary."

"What about Callan?" asked Ian, as we all turned back to Zordon. "What happened to him?"

"Callan survived, a broken man," Zordon replied. "He would not speak of what happened, nor did he ever mention Varian or his family. I suspected the trauma of that night was simply too much for him to remember. At any rate, I took him in, healed and trained him, and gave him the Grey Power Coin. He was a powerful warrior, but I could see a hardness to him, a love of battle and victory. The same flaw we all saw in Ultramarine. So I kept my eye on him, but it wasn't enough."

"Why?" I asked. "What happened?"

"A few years after recruiting Callan, I sent him on a mission to the planet Horath," Zordon said. "The king of Azhron was growing too powerful, amassing too much dark power, and Callan was to fight his way into the city and bring the king back so as to help undo some of the things he'd done." Zordon paused, lowering his voice. "That king was King Varian."

Jason leaned forward. "And you didn't tell him, did you?"

Zordon sighed, and glanced down to Jason. "No, I did not."

Kim's jaw dropped. "How could you not have?" she asked. "Once he got to Varian he would've figured it out anyway."

"It was a mistake, I will not claim otherwise," Zordon said. "But I told him what I thought he needed to know."

Jason nodded. "Because you didn't trust him," he said flatly.

Zordon looked away, and couldn't respond. "Because of the planet's sheer distance from Earth, as well as the orbits of several nearby stars, the planet Horath is impossible to monitor for long periods of time," he continued, as if Jason hadn't spoken. "Teleporting to the planet is tricky, and teleporting once on the planet is impossible, although I don't know why. Now by this time Varian had gained a great many enemies, and they gathered together to form the army that Callan led. Alpha and I watched as he stormed through the city and confronted the king. He must've realised the truth then, as he threw away his Power Coin and continued unmorphed. And although I did not see the killing blow, I watched Callan's sword fall for the king's head."

Zordon broke off, his tone softening. "In that one second, he fell. Callan's need for revenge conquered him, and he executed Varian," he sighed. "We lost Callan's signal soon after, and teleported the Grey Power Coin to safety lest it fall into the wrong hands. I'd always thought he'd been overwhelmed fighting his way out of the city, but he must've survived, waiting all this time for the chance to return and make me pay for my lie."

"But I don't get it," said Sarah. "Why now? Why come back now?"

"To get his Power Coin back," said Trini. "While it was locked in a vault under the Command Centre it was out of his reach, but now there's a new Grey Ranger..."

"Callan's come back for something he thinks is rightfully his," I finished.

Billy nodded. "It would grant him access to the Command Centre and allow him the Iguanodon zord, among other things," he said. "And that's a frightening thought."

Jason shook his head, and looked up to Zordon. "And when exactly were you going to tell us that the Iguanodon Power Coin came with a psychotic ex-Ranger with a grudge?"

Ian turned to the Red Ranger. "Jason calm down, it's okay," he said. "It's nobody's fault, there's no way we could've expected this. He's just one guy, after all. I mean if worse comes to worse, we can beat one guy, right?"

"Don't bet on it," said Zac, glancing across the room to Tommy. "Last time we took on an evil Ranger we barely came out in one piece."

Tommy grit his teeth, and dropped his morpher onto the control panel beside him. "What about my powers?" he asked. "What happened?"

"We knew this would happen eventually," Zordon replied, evidently grateful for the subject change, "we just never knew what kind of time frame we were dealing with. The forcefield that recharged your powers was only temporary. Alpha and I will look, but at the moment I'm sorry. There's nothing we can do."

Tommy's expression fell, and he collapsed back against the console. "So what now?" he asked, deflated.

Ian glanced around. "Yeah, I mean, do we all just go home now, or what?"

"No," said Teresa. "Now that Callan and Rita are up to who knows what on the moon right now, we're not letting you out of our sight," and she looked up to Zordon. "Ian stays with us tonight."

Brendan nodded. "Definitely," he said. "You said your parents are out of town anyway, right?"

Ian nodded. "Well, yeah. But where can we...?"

"My place," said Trini. "We can spend the night in the rec room under my house. We can watch some movies, order pizza, and stay together. Just think of it as a big extended training session."

"Sounds good," Ian replied. "My house is already locked up, I just need to pick some things up."

"We'll come with you," I said. "Teleporting, short trip," and I turned to Jason beside me. "Let's roll."

Jason shook his head. "No, you guys go," he replied. "I want to talk to Zordon, we'll meet you at Trini's place later. We won't be long."

I picked up the tone in Jason's voice and nodded. "Okay, see you soon," and stepping back to join the others, we all tapped our communicators and vanished from the room in six bright flashes of light. Watching us go, aware that everyone in the room was now looking at him, Jason slowly turned back to Zordon.

Zordon knew what was coming. He'd been alive for far too long, and could read people too well, to have any kinds of doubts about what Jason was thinking. Indeed, he was mildly surprised it hadn't come earlier.

"There's a problem Jason?" he asked.

Jason nodded, and stepped forward. "Yes," he said. "You don't trust us, and at the moment the feeling is almost mutual. So yeah, that's the problem."

Trini turned to him. "Jason..."

The Red Ranger shook his head. "Let me finish," he said, turning from Trini back up to Zordon. "I've been listening to things people have been saying the last couple of days, even people I shouldn't be listening to. But some things are starting to add up, and that's really starting to bother me. Zordon, you don't trust us. You didn't tell us about the Junior Team's coins, you didn't tell us about Brendan's powers, you didn't tell us about the Grey Power Coin and you sure as heck didn't tell us that when we gave Ian the Iguanodon Power Coin, the guy who had it last would want it back." Jason shook his head. "You didn't trust Callan, either, and look how that turned out."

Zordon looked away, unable to respond, and the Rangers all turned to each other, everyone torn between siding with their mentor, and siding with their friend.

Trini glanced from Zordon to Jason and broke the heavy silence. "Jason, you don't think you're being a little unfair?" she asked.

"No, he isn't," said Tommy, suddenly angry. "Jason's right," and he looked up to Zordon. "It would've been nice to know all these things beforehand. Are there any more insane warriors coming for the rest of us? Will anybody else's powers drop out mid-battle?" he yelled. "How much have you not told us?"

"Tommy!" Kimberly said sharply, glaring at him.

Tommy turned to her, saw the expression on her face and immediately backed down. "I'm sorry," he said wearily, "it's just..." but his voice trailed off.

"Guys," said Billy, turning back to the group. "Losing our patience is not going to accomplish anything, but Zordon, surely you see Jason has a valid argument. We need to be as effective as possible at what we do, and if you're keeping things from us we simply can't do our jobs properly."

Zordon nodded slowly, turning from Ranger to Ranger. The look on Jason's face hurt him the most.

"Rangers," he began, his voice lacking its usual booming quality. "It was never my intention to hurt any of you. There were reasons for everything that I did and did not tell you, but I'm growing increasingly aware of my own mistakes this day, and for those I'm sorry."

A heavy silence fell then, but after a few seconds, Tommy looked up, his eyes serious.

"Tell us why," he said simply. "Why you kept everything from us."

Beside him, Kimberly nodded. "No more secrets," she agreed.

Zordon allowed himself a slight smile, glad for a chance to redeem himself. "Where should I start?" he asked.

"At the beginning," said Zac quickly. "The second set of power coins."

"Yes," agreed Zordon, "a good place to start. The reason I waited until there was no other choice than to use them was because I was worried. Rangers, the power you have at your disposal is without parallel. A team of six Power Rangers is a force to be reckoned with, but twelve Power Rangers working together are something else entirely. There have been reports in the past of rogue teams of Power Rangers..."

Zac realised what Zordon was saying. "You didn't want to take the chance that we'd turn bad?" he asked.

"It wasn't that I thought you ever would," Zordon replied. "I was just being careful. As I'm sure you're all aware, particularly after today, power can be a dangerous thing."

Tommy looked up to the sage. "What about Ian's power coin?"

"As I said previously, the grey power coin cannot be used by any existing Power Ranger," explained Zordon. "Mentioning it would have been redundant."

Tommy nodded, accepting that, and Trini stepped forward. "And Callan?"

Zordon sighed before responding. "Callan was as mortal as all of you," he replied. "Even had he defeated every opponent in that city and left safely, old age and failing health should have caught up to him eventually. If I'd suspected for a second that he was still alive and determined to take back the Iguanodon Power Coin, I would never have endangered Ian like that."

"While we're on the topic, what about my powers?" began Tommy. "You saw what happened in the city. Is this going to be permanent?"

"I'm afraid so," Zordon replied. "That forcefield was only a temporary solution. The vast majority of the power you gained that day has already been expended."

The Green Ranger's heart fell. "And there's nothing you can do?"

Alpha stepped forward. "I've been thinking about that, actually," he said. "And I think there might be a solution, or at least another temporary one."

"At the moment I'll take what you can give me," Tommy said.

Alpha nodded. "The Green Candle that Rita used severed the Dragonzord Power Coin's connection to the Morphin' Grid, but all the other coins still have that connection. Ayeyiyi, it's a longshot, but keeping your coin in another Ranger's morpher may be enough to charge it sufficiently with some excess power." Alpha paused. "Or it might do nothing. We're in unfamiliar territory here."

Billy looked over to them. "You can use mine," he said, reaching for his back pocket and summoning his morpher. "I'm likely to be least effective in fighting Callan, and if it will enable Tommy the chance to morph again..." Crossing the room, Billy gave Tommy his morpher, Tommy swapping the coins over and giving Billy back both the Triceratops Power Coin and his morpher.

"Thanks," said Tommy, and Billy smiled a small smile.

At the front of the room, Jason lowered his gaze. He had to admit, he felt no better. "What do you say we all call it a day?" he asked, looking around to the group.

The teens wearily nodded. "I think that's a good idea," agreed Zac.

Everyone stepped back, but looked up at Zordon one final time.

"I hope you can forgive me my mistakes," said Zordon softly. "And please, take care of Ian. He's going to need you."

"We will," said Kimberly, and with that, the six of them reached for their communicators and teleported away, leaving Zordon and Alpha alone in the Command Centre once again.

* * *

"Why did you interfere?" asked the warrior, approaching Rita as she stood on the observatory balcony. "I was holding my own and required no assistance." 

Rita turned to him. "I have some experience in these matters," she said. "So you might want to trust me that your chances of victory this afternoon were slim."

"I could've beaten them with ease," the warrior replied indignantly.

"Yes, and I've been underestimating them for the better part of six months," Rita said sharply. "Look at where it's gotten me."

"So what do you suggest?"

The faintest trace of a smile flashed across Rita's face, but was gone just as quickly. "You need my help, Callan," she began. "You and I want the same thing, our goals are practically the same. You don't have the power to take on the entire team to get to the Grey Power Coin, but I do. And I can help you, Callan, if you wish."

The warrior hesitated a second, then nodded. "For?"

"For the book, Varian's legacy and the source of his power," Rita replied. "You know which volume I refer to. I just wish to inspect it, and you can even have it back when I'm finished."

"And you'll really aid my quest?" the warrior asked.

Rita nodded. "Absolutely."

The warrior turned out to look at Earth in the distance, taking a few seconds to decide before turning back to Rita. "In that case," he replied, with a nod and a malicious smile beneath his visor, "the deal is done."

* * *

Leaving the Command Centre and very curious about what was being said in our absence, the six of us shot through the sky towards Goondiwindi, fields, farms and dusty plains flashing beneath us before everyone materialised in Ian's house. Ian quickly introduced us to the family dog, a friendly and somewhat enormous golden retriever named Fenris, before dashing upstairs to get his backpack. After leaving some food for Fenris, he was ready to go, and we teleported back towards Caloundra. For the most part we remained in good spirits, although it was impossible not to feel the shift in everybody's behaviour, or notice Ian paying a lot more attention to his surroundings than usual. 

It was sunset by the time we reached Trini's house, and we found the teens already there. I knew they weren't likely to tell us what had happened back in the Command Centre, but nobody looked particularly happy about whatever had gone on. At any rate, pizzas were soon ordered, the video committee (Kimberly, Teresa and Scott) left for the video store, and everybody began regaling Ian with past adventures while we unpacked, the collective mood slowly but surely beginning to lift. Even Ian was soon smiling and laughing along with the rest of us.

Sitting at the back of the room and keeping a patiently observant eye on the Dragonzord Power Coin in his morpher, Billy glanced up and around only to see that Tommy wasn't in the room with everybody else. Climbing to his feet, the blond youth walked across to the door to the backyard, soon seeing that he'd guessed right - Tommy was sitting outside on a garden bench in the Kwan's backyard, alone in the cool night air.

Stepping outside, Billy pulled the door shut and turned to the Green Ranger. "I noticed you weren't inside with everybody else," he said quietly, sitting on the other side of the bench. Tommy made no reply, so he continued. "For whatever it's worth, it appears to be working," he said hopefully, raising the morpher. "You coin does in fact appear to be absorbing some of the excess power within my morpher, charging, if you will. So we should have you back to normal soon."

"Until the next time it happens," Tommy said suddenly. "Let's face it Billy, there's only so many temporary fixes we can use before we run out."

"Possibly, but there must be a permanent solution somewhere, and Alpha and Zordon are more than likely to find it," he said, trying to sound comforting. "And until then..."

The Green Ranger sighed, and looked to Billy. "You don't get it Billy," he said. "There is no permanent solution here. You've never lost your powers, you wouldn't understand. It was bad enough being the badguy." Tommy got to his feet and stepped away, pausing at the door. "If I'm not a Ranger, then what am I?" he asked quietly, before stepping back inside.

Billy watched him go. "Everything I wish to be," he said softly, before turning back to the stars.

Back inside, I'd just come downstairs from saying hello to Trini's parents when, stepping into the rec room, I picked up the sounds of combat coming from the garage next door, somebody obviously taking out some stress on the punching bag kept within. But looking around, I noticed that Jason was missing, and after a second of hesitation, I crossed towards Zac sitting at the back of the room.

"Hey Zac," I said.

Zac turned to me as I sat down beside him. "Yo Pete, what's up?"

"You're close to Jason, right?" I asked.

Zac nodded. "As close as he lets me. Why do you ask?"

"Something's bothering him," I said. "I want to, you know, talk to him. I'm just not sure how."

"Yeah, in the Command Centre he said a few things to Zordon," Zac replied quietly. "Nobody's real happy about what went on, to be honest. Jason shuts down when he's upset about something. We usually just let him go and he comes good after a while on his own."

I smiled. "That's what Teresa and Sarah say about me."

Zac nodded. "I'll bet they do," he said with a smile, then nodded to the garage. "Why don't you go talk to him? It can't hurt."

"Yeah, yeah I will, thanks," I said. Zac wished me luck as I stood up, and leaving the rec room, I walked down the hall and stepped out into the garage just as Jason turned away from the punching bag, grabbing a towel and wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Jason?" I said.

He looked back to me. "Oh, Peter," he said. "Sorry, I didn't see you there. You startled me." Hanging the towel back up on the wall, he dropped to the ground, sitting back against the wall and holding his head in his hands, and I walked over and sat down beside him.

"You okay?" I asked, hoping the direct approach would work.

Jason shook his head. "No," he replied, "not really. It was just a big day, I guess. Where are the heroes when you really need them?"

This sounded like a really odd thing to say, but I nodded and didn't reply for a minute. "Well, I just want you to know that I'm here," I said eventually.

Jason turned to me, and offered a small but honest smile. "Thanks," he replied softly, about to continue when Teresa suddenly poked her head around the corner.

"Guys, the movies and pizzas are here," she said. "We're trying to hold off Zac and Brendan, but we can't keep them back for long."

"On our way," said Jason, and we both climbed to our feet and jogged back into the rec room to rejoin the group. "Zac, if there's no Hawaiian left, you're in big trouble..."

And as we sat down, Trini fired up the Kwan's giant widescreen television and put the first movie in, which I happily soon saw was 'Godzilla vs King Kong', my favourite giant monster movie of all time and the best out of the entire Godzilla series. Just briefly, I forgot about the people standing on the moon plotting our imminent destruction, and enjoyed the moment for what it was. And looking around, I could see that everyone in the room was doing the same.

I smiled and turned to Jason. "Eating pizzas and watching badly-dubbed old movies with best friends. Does it get any better than this?"

And even in spite of himself, Jason shook his head. "No," he replied honestly, "I don't think it ever does."

* * *

_The palace rose above them, dark and foreboding in the moonlight, its high windows reflecting the flames taking hold in the city below. Approaching the enormous castle gates, Callan raised his arm and brought the troop of soldiers behind him to a stop._

_"The Shadow Knights' barracks are around to the left," he said tersely, nodding to a low stone building beside the palace. "Once you take their stronghold, they should fall. The castle is mine alone."_

_One of the soldiers stepped forward. "With due respect, sir," the man began, "we don't know what lies within..."_

_"I do."_

_At the tone in Callan's voice, the soldier frowned. "Sir, remember our orders. The king needs to be captured alive."_

_"I will do what I have to," Callan replied quickly, turning to the soldier, his voice like the sword the soldier was holding. "But understand me - nobody follows me inside. Is that clear?"_

_The soldier lowered his gaze. "Yes sir."_

_Callan nodded, and as the troops moved away, he stepped forward, raised his weapons and blasted the gates clean off their hinges._


	3. Chapter 3

To Koulagirl and Sky's Girl Forever, thanks for the reviews. Never fear, the whole story is written, I'm just putting it up chapter-by-chapter, you'll get the whole story I promise :). And with that, onto chapter three...

** Chapter Three**

Sitting on the eastern side of Battery Hill, the Kwan's house pretty much overlooks all of Currimundi, and their backyard is renowned for its views of the sunrise. Inside, as the day's first light began chasing away the night's shadows, Brendan opened his eyes and blinked away the night's sleep, soon finding that Ian's sleeping bag beside him was empty. But looking around, he saw that the door to the backyard was open, and so rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he climbed to his feet, grabbed a coat and tiptoed outside, stepping on Zac and Tommy along the way and finding the Grey Ranger sitting on the garden bench by the door.

"Hey," Brendan said quietly, pulling the door shut behind him.

Ian turned to him and smiled. "Morning," he nodded, as Brendan sat down beside him. "I didn't wake anybody up, did I?"

"Nah," Brendan replied. "Everybody's getting up anyway. I heard Tommy and Zac before."

Ian nodded, and looked back over Currimundi to the horizon in the distance. "I always wanted to see the sun rise over the ocean," he said softly. "I figure, I can cross it off my 'things to do' list."

There was a moment of silence, and recognising the tone in his friend's voice, Brendan looked back to Ian. "We are gonna beat this guy, I want you to know that," he said. "I mean it might seem impossible or too much to deal with, but you'd be surprised how many things seem impossible until you start spending time with the people inside."

Ian smiled. "Yeah, I kinda picked up that vibe," he replied.

"Heck, you should have seen what I had to do on _my_ first day," Brendan said.

"They were telling me about it last night," Ian nodded. "You actually fought a mountain and stopped him from levelling the city? No way."

The Aqua Ranger beamed. "Yep," he replied, then paused. "Well, Zac and I didn't really fight him so much as manage to change his mind, you know, talk him out of it. Still not quite sure how, actually, but a victory's a victory. Tibrogargan was a good guy, anyway. He just didn't know it."

"Can't you just ask him to take out Rita and Callan for us?" Ian asked.

Brendan shook his head. "It doesn't work like that," he replied. "Peter and Zac explained the legend to me. Tibrogargan _has_ to sleep. When he wakes up, bad things start happening, and I'm talking 'end of the world' kind of stuff. Which I actually saw happening, so I trust them." He paused. "So yeah, compared to that, Callan should be a piece of cake."

Ian smiled. "Thanks," he said, then shook his head. "I just don't get it. Callan was a hero. I just can't believe a Ranger could do something like this, you know?"

Brendan nodded, but hearing voices inside, stood up. "C'mon," he said, "everything makes more sense after breakfast," and the two friends turned and headed back inside.

By now, everybody was awake. The night had done everyone some good, and I could feel the change in the air, everybody refreshed and upbeat. After we'd all had showers and gotten changed, we sat down to breakfast, and once Trini's family had left for the day, we all gathered around in the rec room.

"We had a peaceful night," said Jason, "but I think we can bet on Callan making a return appearance today."

Tommy nodded. "Which is why we have to be ready for him," he said. "We're two Rangers down, after all."

"Affirmative," said Billy. "I was considering this last night, actually. Callan might be human, but he's certainly not from this planet, and he's at least six hundred years old. If nothing else, there's a chance that may give us some kind of energy signature to track."

"That's a great idea," I said. "Maybe we can go back through the archives, learn more about him. I mean he started as a Ranger, there's gotta be some good left in him, some way of reaching him, right?"

Teresa nodded. "I think that's definitely worth a shot."

Glancing around the room, Ian smiled. "Thanks guys," he said. "I feel bad about this. You shouldn't be in the line of fire here. It's me he's after."

"Don't even think about it," replied Kim. "We're in this together, no matter what."

Ian nodded, about to reply when everyone's communicators suddenly chimed. Jason glanced around to make sure the twelve of us were alone, and I couldn't help but notice he was almost hesitant in responding. "Zordon, we're here," he said. "What is it?"

"Trouble in the city, I'm afraid," crackled Zordon's voice.

"Is Callan back?" asked Ian.

"Yes, and he's not alone this time," Zordon replied. "Two of Rita's monsters and a troop of Shadow Knights are accompanying him, and they're attacking the markets in the park."

Trini frowned. "There's a lot of people there on a Sunday morning," she said. "We need to move."

"We can't waste any time," said Jason, turning to the group. "Tommy, Billy, you guys need to stay here, or better yet teleport to the Command Centre."

Tommy nodded, and glanced across to Ian before looking back to the rest of us. "Take care," he said, and Jason nodded, hearing the unspoken plea. _Take care of Ian_.

"You got it," Jason said, and glanced around the group. "Okay guys, let's suit up," and everybody reached for their back pockets. "It's morphin' time!"

"Iguanodon!"

"Dilophosaurus!"

"Rhamphorynchus!"

"Brontosaurus!"

"Velociraptor!"

"Stegosaurus!"

"Mastodon!"

"Pterodactyl!"

"Sabre-Toothed Tiger!"

"Tyrannosaurus!"

* * *

The markets were a traditional sight in the park every Sunday morning, sellers arriving early to set up stalls selling plants, old books, toys, wooden crafts, baked goods, and pretty much anything else. What wasn't a traditional sight were the panicked crowds of screaming people, fleeing for their lives away from the stalls and out of the park as the ten of us arrived on the scene. As the last of the crowds raced past us, a line of figures emerged from the aisles of stalls, moving forward quickly to confront us. 

"Whoa," breathed Brendan. "Guess there's no kill like overkill."

"You got that right," nodded Kim.

On one side, two of what had to have been Rita's monsters were steadily closing in towards us. On the left was Bambi's evil twin brother after a few hours in the radiation chamber - the beast was covered in matted brown hair and wore green gauntlets and body armour, walking on hoofed feet and peering down at us through glowing red eyes under a savage-looking pair of antlers. Beside him, the second monster looked like the cyborg offspring of a computer and a goat, with mechanical joints above snowy white fur. The beast had blue eyes, wielded a long silver blade, and looked to have a robotic right leg and left arm.

Beside the two monsters was Callan, his armour repaired from the battle yesterday, while behind him stood a troop of Shadow Knights. The picture in the Command Centre hadn't done them justice - without exception, the soldiers were all giants of men, each one at least six feet tall and wearing fearsome black body armour. Their faces were all hidden behind their helmets, but their eyes were hard and emotionless, and there was something unsettling in their cool gazes.

"Rangers," Zordon's voice crackled through our communicators. "The two monsters are Staghorn and Robogoat, and behind Callan we can count at least thirty Shadow Knights. It would seem that Rita and Callan have forged something of an alliance."

"Great," said Zac. "Because that's what we wanted to hear."

Across from us, the grey warrior stepped forward. "Rangers!" he called, "I promised we would meet again, and here I am." He paused, glancing to Ian. "Whenever you're ready."

Jason glanced from the two monsters to the troop of Shadow Knights, his mind clear. Everything else aside, at least this was something he knew how to do, something he knew how to deal with. Something he didn't have to think about. "Okay, there's a church and houses on either side," he said, looking back to the group. "No matter what, we stop these guys here. Nobody leaves the park."

"We're closest to the Shadow Knights, we'll take them down," Teresa said.

Jason nodded. "Kim, Zac and Trini, you guys get Robogoat," he said. "Peter and I will take on Staghorn."

"Works for us," nodded Kim.

Ian glanced to Jason. "But what about...?"

Across from us, the grey warrior summoned his sword, and without another word, suddenly dashed away, leaving the knights and vanishing into the aisles of stalls and tents. Ian reacted instantly, summoning his blasters and racing off after the warrior. With a glance to Jason, Brendan turned and followed.

"Ian! Brendan!" called Trini. "Come back!"

Jason shook his head. "They can do it, let them go," he said. "We can take care of the rest. Let's break!"

With that the group split up, the White, Blue and Purple Rangers sprinting across the grass towards the troop of Shadow Knights. The soldiers turned towards them unsheathing their weapons as the Rangers approached - Teresa dived over a sword, rolled to her feet and kicked forward, wiping out several opponents before spinning around, ducking under a sword and dropping the knight with a blow to the stomach. Behind her, Scott blocked a staff and struck the soldier away with a palm strike, sending another crashing with a blow to the chest before taking to the air and dropping three more adversaries with a spinning roundhouse kick. A few metres away, a knight swung his blade for Sarah - the Purple Ranger caught the blade and snapped it in two with a judo chop before sending the knight to the ground with a right hook. More knights closed in around her, but reaching back for a table that had been knocked over in the earlier stampede, Sarah launched the bench into the air in a wide underarm arc and flattened an entire line of the grim soldiers.

A short distance away, Kimberly, Zac and Trini had all raced towards Robogoat, Zac charging towards the monster and swinging a high punch. Ducking under the blow, Robogoat blocked Zac's other fist and slashed his blade across the Black Ranger's chest, sending Zac crashing in a shower of sparks. The monster spun around to face the Pink Ranger as Kimberly attacked, striking away a low kick and slicing his blade towards her - Kim lightly dodged the blow, stepped around a second swing and somersaulted back over a third, catching the beast on the chin with her boot. The monster grunted angrily as she found her footing, lowering its head and sending her crashing back with a sonic blast. But even as Kimberly fell, Trini leaped forward, blocking the beast's blade and landing a powerful chop to his stomach before a rapid palm-strike to the chest knocked the monster away. Now with the advantage, the three Rangers raced forward to continue the battle.

Across the park, Jason and I had sprinted away from the others after Staghorn.

The monster grinned as we approached. "Catch me if you can," he sneered, and raced off into an aisle of market stalls, soon disappearing from view. Not wanting to lose him, Jason and I rounded the corner at full speed, and although the path ahead of us forked, I knew that both paths led around to meet at the basketball courts.

"You go left, I'll go right," I said quickly. Jason nodded, and we dashed away from each other. But as he raced down the path, Jason's communicator suddenly chimed, and the Red Ranger came to a stop.

"Jason, go back!" crackled Zordon's voice. "Stop! You have to get to Ian and Brendan!"

"But... Staghorn," said Jason, suddenly frozen. He didn't know what to do, couldn't make the call, and in a terrible split-second, realised that he just couldn't trust what Zordon was telling him.

"No, Rita's here! You have to find them!" Zordon replied.

Without warning, Staghorn stepped out from behind an ice-cream stand, grinning with malice, and before Jason could react, the monster lowered his head and fired a huge blast of energy from his antlers - the blast spiralled across the grass and smashed into Jason, lifting the Red Ranger off his feet and slamming him to the ground in a blaze of fire and sparks.

"A Red Ranger caught off his guard?" the monster sneered, slowly closing in. "I'm going to enjoy this..."

The ground in front of Staghorn suddenly erupted in sparks and smoke. The beast immediately ducked back, raising his arms to protect his face then turning back as the smoke cloud cleared - I stood before him, a few feet in front of Jason, blaster in my left hand and sword held high in my right.

"You will not hurt him _again_," I said.

Staghorn sneered. "I'd like to see you try and stop me," he said.

"Wish granted," I replied, and reholstering my blaster, I leaped towards him, slashing forward with my sword. Staghorn dodged around the blade, ducking under a second slash and stepping back around a third. I raised the sword high and swung again, but the monster blocked my arm and struck me back with a rapid blow to the chest. I stumbled back and Staghorn continued forward - I ducked under a right punch and struck his left fist away, but even as I swung my blade towards him, Staghorn stepped around the move and knocked me back with a low kick.

But as he advanced, Jason suddenly leaped down in front of me, striking away a punch and swinging high. The monster dodged the blow but before he could retaliate Jason forced him back with a kick to the stomach. Staghorn stumbled away, and now recovered I charged past Jason and slashed with my sword, Staghorn quickly retreating back out of harm's way. Beside me, Jason took to the air, kicking forward, Staghorn countering the blows as Jason landed but backing away even further. Finally, ducking under a wide slice from my sword, the monster spun away from us, stepping back out of range as we approached.

The monster looked up and around as we closed in. "Another day Rangers," he said. "I'm needed elsewhere," and with that, Staghorn vanished in a flash of light.

I turned to Jason. "Are you okay?"

The Red Ranger nodded. "C'mon," he said. "We have to find the others."

* * *

On the other side of the park, Ian and Brendan were racing through the market after the grey warrior, following him on a seemingly random course through the aisles of tents. Only a few steps ahead of them but somehow managing to maintain the distance, their quarry dashed left past a book stall before ducking right through a tent filled with leafy plants. The two Rangers followed, briefly losing sight of the warrior but never slowing down. 

"Callan, will you just listen to reason?" called Ian as they chased him. "You're not evil, we don't have to do this! I'm sure Zordon never meant to lie to you, it's just..."

Ian's voice trailed off as he and Brendan reached an intersection between the aisles, and the two Rangers glanced back and forth to see which way the warrior had gone.

"Trying to bargain for your coin?" came a mocking voice, from somewhere in the distance.

Brendan glanced down the path on the right. "This way," he nodded, and the two Rangers turned and raced down the aisle.

"You used to own this coin," Ian continued, looking up and around. "Remember what that means? Remember the good you used to do? You were a hero once Callan, and you can be again."

Turning a corner, the two Rangers came to a sudden halt - a few metres ahead of them, the grey warrior and Rita herself were standing side-by-side between the stalls. Brendan instinctively raised his arms defensively, while Ian immediately aimed both blasters.

"Just keep talking," Rita sneered. "It's really working." She paused, and turned to the warrior beside her. "All yours Callan, as promised."

The warrior nodded. "You kept your word," he said. "I'm impressed."

"And the book of Hades?" Rita asked.

"Yours. As promised."

Rita smiled triumphantly. "Excellent," she replied, and looking back to an increasingly-confused Brendan and Ian, the witch stood to her full height and raised her wand. "Have fun boys," she said, and before either of them could react, there was a sudden pulse of bright light, and they vanished from the scene.

* * *

Back across the park, Zac, Trini and Kimberly were still trading blows with Robogoat. Ducking the monster's sword, Trini struck the beast's hand away when he swung again and landed a rapid strike to his shoulder before aiming a blow for his ribs. The beast blocked and batted away her hand, carving his blade back towards her - Trini stepped back around the move as Kimberly somersaulted forward, and they sent the monster stumbling with side-by-side high kicks. Robogoat staggered backwards but recovered quickly, and as the two Rangers raced towards him, he lowered his head and fired another sonic blast from his horns, the ground and nearby trees shaking as the two Rangers were blasted away. But as the monster turned to find his remaining opponent, Zac sprang forward into the air, landing a powerful kick to the beast's snout and sending him flying backwards. 

The monster found his footing and snarled. "You'll pay for that," he growled, and raised his sword to attack - the trailing end of a whip suddenly wrapped around his wrist, yanking him back, and the beast turned to see the White Ranger standing behind him. He roared and spun towards her, but Scott leaped into the monster's path, blocking his blade with his staff before smashing the weapon back into the monster's snout. Dazed from the assault, the monster slashed wildly for Scott just as Sarah dropped down before him, and striking away his fist, she smashed her mace into the beast's stomach before swinging her weapon straight for the monster's jaw, the blow throwing the monster back.

The six Rangers all regrouped as Robogoat regained his footing.

"Run out of badguys?" asked Zac.

Scott nodded. "Figured you could use a hand," he said, indicating the unconscious soldiers littering the ground a few metres away - even as they watched, the soldiers began teleporting away, disappearing in flashes of light.

"Awesome," nodded Kimberly. "We could definitely use some help taking down Robocreep here."

"Then we got here just in time," came a voice, and everybody looked back to see Jason and I jogging over towards them. "Our badguy took off," I continued, as we joined the group, "so I guess it's open season on Robogoat."

"You hear that?" asked Zac, looking back to the monster. "You're history."

"We'll see about that," the monster growled, and lowering his head, the beast charged towards us.

"Let's take this guy out fast," said Trini.

"Right!"

The Senior Rangers all summoned their Power Weapons with a thought, Kimberly immediately taking aim at the monster and firing, Robogoat coming to a halt as the entire area went up in fire and smoke. Diving forward through the smoke cloud, Zac rolled to his feet and swung his Power Axe all in one smooth motion, carving the weapon across the beast's chest in a shower of sparks. Robogoat staggered back but retaliated, aiming his sword for the Black Ranger - Jason suddenly dropped down before him, halting Robogoat's sword with his own, striking it away and forcing the monster back with a left hook. Even as Robogoat found his footing, Trini leapt forward, daggers raised, blocking the beast's sword, ducking under a left high punch and landing a kick to the monster's chest.

Shaking his head to clear the ringing in his ears, the monster turned to see the White and Blue Rangers approaching. The monster growled and raised his sword, but Teresa cracked her whip for the beast's wrist and forced him to drop the blade onto the grass. He charged forward regardless, swinging blindly at the two Rangers, but swinging his staff, Scott blocked the beast's fists, landed a solid blow to the monster's stomach before smashing the other end of the staff into the beast's jaw. Stumbling away, the monster forced them back with another blast from his curling horns - that ended abruptly when Sarah landed a powerful blow with her mace. Even as Robogoat stumbled to the side, I took to the air, leaping past the Purple Ranger and forcing the monster back with a high kick.

Robogoat recovered and turned back to us. "You will never defeat me!" he cried.

"Challenge accepted," I replied, and the Junior Team stepped aside to reveal the Red Ranger holding the Megablaster aimed squarely at Robogoat.

"Good night," Jason nodded, and pulled the trigger - a massive blast of energy exploded from the cannon, spiralling across the battlefield, slamming into Robogoat and instantly destroying him in a fiery explosion that lit up the park and echoed throughout the deserted markets.

Jason lowered the Megablaster and glanced around the group as we all took a minute to catch our breath.

"Well," began Scott brightly. "That was..."

"Guys," I interrupted, looking around, "where are Ian and Brendan? I can't see them anywhere. Where...?"

"Gone," crackled Zordon's voice, and we all looked down to our communicators. "We've got no trace of either them or Callan. I'm sorry Rangers, they're just... gone."


	4. Chapter 4

Koulagirl -- the fight scenes in the last chapter were actually really difficult to write, so I'm glad you liked them. The fight scenes get steadily cooler as the story progresses, so without further adue...

**Chapter Four**

Before either of them could react everything went blindingly white, and both Ian and Brendan felt the sensation of falling quickly through an empty, bottomless void. This only lasted for a few seconds, and before long, they both felt solid ground form beneath their feet, and the world took shape around them.

The markets, park and city had all disappeared. Looking around, the Grey and Aqua Rangers were suddenly standing on a sparse windswept field. On one side, a crumbling rocky wall towered over them, the cliff curving around to open plains in the distance, while a few metres away on the opposite side was a sharp drop, the ground sloping steeply down into a scraggly, overgrown forest.

"Whoa," said Brendan, shaking his head and blinking away the bright light before turning to Ian. "Are you okay?"

Ian nodded. "I think so," he replied. "What just happened?"

Brendan shrugged and raised his communicator, but tapping the top button produced only static. "Can't reach the Command Centre," he said. "This keeps getting better and better."

Ian tried his own communicator. "I can't teleport either," he said, lowering his wrist. "So where on Earth are we?"

Glancing past the edge of the cliff beside them, Brendan followed the view to the horizon - his expression fell, and after a few seconds, he reached across and tapped Ian's shoulder. "I think we're a bit beyond that."

Ian turned to see what had caught Brendan's attention, and immediately stepped back in shock.

With the sun behind them either rising or setting, the Rangers couldn't miss the _two moons_ hanging in the sky just over the horizon, the pale discs reflected in the stormy ocean below. But something else immediately caught their attention - between the Rangers and the endless black sea sprawled an ancient stone city. The city looked to have suffered some catastrophic past calamity - empty, silent and deserted, its buildings and towers lay in crumbling ruin, broken and shattered long ago, while the city's high stone walls were little more than rubble. Buildings which weren't destroyed were overgrown with vines and plants, and they saw that some sections of the city had been totally reclaimed by the forest. At some point in the past the city must've been a grand metropolis, but now it appeared to have been abandoned to the elements for centuries.

Brendan let out a low whistle. "There's something you don't see every day," he murmured.

Ian nodded, suddenly realising where they were. "We're on Horath," he said. "That's Azhron, it has to be."

Brendan turned to him. "Do you suddenly feel really alone, or is it just me?"

Ian shook his head. "The others will be here soon, right?" he said. "They'll figure out where we are, they'll have to."

"I guess Callan took over the city after he killed Varian," Brendan said. "He had the Shadow Knights with him, after all, and check it out," and he pointed to a huge building in the middle of the city.

"The palace," nodded Ian. "Just about the only building still standing."

Brendan turned back to Ian to reply, but something in the distance suddenly caught his attention. "Uh, Ian? We might have a problem..."

The Grey Ranger turned to look - on the field past the high rocky cliff, a familiar-looking figure dressed all in grey was leading an army of what looked to be hundreds if not thousands of Shadow Knights straight across the plains towards them.

"_Now_ I feel alone," Ian nodded.

"The Shadow Knights must've been waiting for Callan," Brendan said. "We were supposed to arrive with him, but the funky teleportation worked in our favour."

Ian shook his head. "We can't fight them all at once _and_ deal with Callan," he said, then paused. "But they can't teleport either, can they?"

"What are you thinking?"

"Look at Azhron," Ian said, looking down to the city in the distance. "We can lose them in the city, at least until the other Rangers get here. We just need a head-start," and he turned to the high rocky cliff beside them. "Here, take my blade-blaster."

Brendan reached across and unholstered Ian's sidearm with his right hand, taking his own blaster in his left, before following Ian's aim as the Grey Ranger raised his Power Blasters to the cliff-face.

"Let's rock this world," Ian said, and with that, they both fired, four side-by-side blasts punching through the cliff and throwing up a billowing cloud of dust, the two Rangers carving the blasts down the cliff-face before letting their blasters fall. For a half-second, nothing happened - then, with a slow rumble, the top half of the cliff began tumbling forward, the rockslide gaining momentum every second, the faraway rumble quickly growing into an earth-shattering roar as thousands of tonnes of rock crashed down the cliff-face, the entire field shaking under the avalanche. But it worked - the army's path towards the two Rangers was steadily being blocked by fallen rubble.

Even as the stones continued to fall, Ian turned back to Brendan, the Aqua Ranger handing him back his side-arm. "They're not gonna be risk a climb, no way," he said. "Not with all that bulky armour."

"Awesome," said Brendan, then glanced back to the city in the distance. "Let's move!"

Ian nodded, and following in the path of another Grey Ranger six hundred years earlier, the two Rangers turned and raced down towards the ruined city.

* * *

_The castle doors flew open and slammed back against the wall behind them, the entire room shaking as Callan stepped through the archway into the entry hall, coming to a halt and lowering his blasters at the obstacle suddenly before him._

_At least a hundred of Varian's Shadow Knights stood assembled in the hall, blocking his path forward. A knight in the centre of the room gave the order, and as one, the entire assembly raised their weapons and leaped towards him._

_Without a second of hesitation, Callan charged towards the army, the soldiers striking out for him as he approached - spinning under the blows, he struck away an opponent on either side, sending a third back with a blow to the chest before blocking a high kick, launching the knight into the air with a powerful uppercut and continuing forward. Blocking and striking away every blow that fell towards him, Callan continued on through the entry hall as nothing but a blur of motion, moving forward with every step and flattening adversary after adversary as each Shadow Knight fell towards him and was lightly struck away. Finally, a trail of broken and beaten opponents behind him, Callan reached the end of the hall and broke down the doors with a kick._

_The second chamber was empty of Shadow Knights, but Callan immediately saw that it had not been left unguarded - both Xerxes and Taltos stood facing him down._

_Taltos stepped forward, raising his twin daggers. "We should've killed you when we had the chance," he buzzed._

_Callan nodded. "Yes," he replied simply. "You really should've."_

_Xerxes' cool red eyes narrowed, his forked tongue flashing between jagged fangs. "Your hubris will cost you," he hissed, raising his clawed hands. "Kill him!"_

_With that the two monsters charged towards the Grey Ranger, Xerxes slashing out with his claws. Standing his ground, Callan raised his two Power Blasters and fired - the blast slammed into Xerxes and lifted him off his feet, sending him crashing back through a window in an explosion of glass where he immediately toppled out of sight. Callan spun back to Taltos as the second general attacked - racing along the wall, Taltos leaped down towards him, blocking a blast with his left dagger and slashing with his right. Callan stepped around the move and sent the monster crashing with a kick as he passed, and even as Taltos regained his footing, Callan aimed his blasters for the roof above Taltos' head and fired - with a roar like thunder, the ceiling came crashing down, the monster vanishing as half the room collapsed around him._

_And with no-one left before him, Callan lowered his blasters and continued. There was no force in the galaxy that could keep him from his goal now, not a one._

* * *

"So it was all a set-up?" asked Teresa, once we'd returned to the Command Centre and demorphed, joining Billy and Tommy. "Nothing but an ambush?" 

Zordon nodded. "An elaborate trap to draw us into the open and isolate Ian from the rest of the group," he replied. "With that accomplished, Callan could transport Ian anywhere he wanted, and guarantee we wouldn't interfere."

Sarah shook her head. "Why didn't you warn us?" she asked.

Zordon paused for a second, and I saw his gaze flicker down to Jason for a brief second. "I did not realise their intentions until too late," he replied softly. "But at least we received a small piece of luck - wherever Ian is, Brendan is with him."

"Were you able to get a lock on their teleportation trail?" asked Billy.

Alpha nodded. "Affirmative," he replied. "Tracking them was difficult because of the magic Rita employed, but we were able to follow their trail to the planet Horath."

"Callan's home turf," nodded Kim. "Of course."

"They'll be in Azhron," said Trini, looking around. "Where else?"

"I agree," said Zordon. "Given Callan's control of the Shadow Knights, that seems very likely indeed."

"But that's great though, isn't it?" said Zac, glancing from Zordon to the rest of the group. "We know where they are, let's go rescue them."

"Ayeyiyi," began Alpha. "If only it was that simple Rangers. Remember what Zordon said yesterday - we can't monitor the planet's surface and Horath is currently beyond our reach anyway."

Zordon nodded. "Indeed, something is actively blocking our scanners and interfering with our teleportation," he said. "The computers detected a signal being broadcast into Horath's atmosphere from somewhere on the planet's surface."

Teresa glanced around. "Well how long until we can get there?"

"Two hours," Alpha said. "I'm sorry Rangers, but the planet won't move back into range for another two hours, which is when the nearby stars will be..."

"Two hours?" I repeated. "We have to wait for two hours until we can do anything?"

Zac nodded. "That's crazy, we can't just sit here doing nothing."

Sarah looked up to Zordon. "What about the zords?" she asked. "The Pterodactyl and Rhamphorynchus zords, I mean. What about them?"

Zordon shook his head. "While zords are certainly capable of interplanetary travel, at top speed it would still take them the better part of a week to reach Horath from Earth," he replied.

"So what, we just sit here spinning our wheels for two hours?" asked Scott. "No way. There has to be something we can do."

Zordon paused, deep in thought. "We may be able to reach them through the communicator channels," he said finally. "The communicator network is fairly new, and it might be successful because we've never tried it before. But until Alpha can patch through a link to the planet's surface, I'm sorry Rangers. I'm afraid all we _can_ do right now is wait."

* * *

"Hey, watch out here," said Brendan, climbing around an unstable boulder. Turning back, he took Ian's glove and helped the Grey Ranger pass. 

"Thanks," Ian nodded, and they continued, the crumbling city wall only a short distance away. The sun had risen as they'd walked, so it had been morning when they'd first arrived. They'd made good time covering the distance between the mountain and the city, and were now passing through what had once been the farming suburbs outside of Azhron. Long since deserted, the buildings and farms were now little more than rusting, decaying ruin.

"No problem," Brendan replied.

Ian turned to him. "I wonder if we even can twist our ankles while we're morphed."

Brendan shrugged. "I guess so," he said. "I mean, we don't break but we can still bend."

The pair came to a stop, the city wall rising above them, and glancing around, Ian spotted a hole in the wall at ground level, half-hidden by leaves and vines. "Over there," he pointed.

Brendan nodded. "Still no sign of Callan and the scout troop of death, either," he said, glancing back up to the hills behind them. "I'd say we lost them."

"For now," Ian said. "C'mon," and they quickly crossed to the gap in the wall, brushed the undergrowth out of the way and climbed through.

The two Rangers emerged in a small square, strewn with rubble all overgrown with weeds. The fronts of several nearby buildings remained standing, appearing to be held up by nothing more than the twisting vines wrapped around them, the empty windows showing a city of ruins behind and the blue sky above. The square was totally deserted, even lacking the sounds of birds or other animals. There was only the two Rangers, the empty, alien landscape, and the total eerie silence, oppressive and unnerving.

"Guess this is a bad neighbourhood," Brendan said, then added brightly. "Bet there's a _Subway_ in here somewhere."

Ian smiled. "Why do I have this feeling I'm being watched?" he said.

"I'm getting that vibe too," Brendan nodded. "Let's keep moving," and the two Rangers continued on, crossing the square and following an ancient cobbled street further into the city, keeping totally silent but for their footsteps and beating hearts.

After a few minutes, Brendan turned to Ian. "I'm sorry, by the way," he said. "For your first afternoon, back in the Command Centre, where I said we'd kill you if you said 'no' to us."

Ian laughed. "That's okay," he replied with a smile, "I think at that point I needed the laugh."

"I just really have a thing about awkward moments," Brendan said. Ahead of them, a stone tower had collapsed across the road, the rubble blocking their path forward, so reaching an intersection, they turned left towards the city centre.

"I wonder what this place looked like before, you know?" asked Brendan.

"Probably spectacular," Ian said, glancing around at the ruins on either side of them. "I just can't believe we're actually standing on another planet. I mean, this is pretty incredible."

Brendan nodded. "Scott and Peter were telling me, on their second adventure they had to travel to a desert planet somewhere to rescue a wizard from Rita," he said. "I'm glad I don't have to feel left out of the club anymore." Ian laughed, and Brendan continued. "So where are we heading, anyway?"

"Not much of a plan," Ian replied. "But I figure we can find a building that's still reasonably solid and hide out until help arrives or until our communicators start working again. Zordon did say teleporting to this planet was tricky."

"Works for me," Brendan replied, but hearing a noise in the distance that definitely wasn't crumbling masonry, he held up his hand for Ian to stop. "What is that?" he asked softly, straining his ears - suddenly recognising the sound, his eyes went wide.

_Footsteps_...

"C'mon, we need to hide," he said quickly - glancing around quickly, he saw an alcove in the ruins of a building a few metres away hidden from view by pieces of fallen masonry. Racing over, they leaped behind the alcove and tried to make themselves as small as possible, holding their breaths in tense silence.

As they listened, the noise grew steadily louder, and they heard a troop of Shadow Knights round the corner before continuing down the street the two Rangers had just been following. They waited in silence as the soldiers passed only a few feet away, and only when the footsteps had totally faded did they turn to each other.

"That was way too close," whispered Brendan.

Ian nodded. "Callan must've second-guessed us," he said. "There are probably troops all over the city, looking for us."

"We got lucky," Brendan replied. "But we can't stay here. We need to..." but his voice trailed off as another sound reached them, a different sound than the one before.

This sound was the six-chime tone of their communicators.

* * *

"Rangers, I've got them!"cried Alpha triumphantly, his metallic voice echoing through the Command Centre. As one, everyone in the room raced over to crowd around him. 

"Alpha, way to go!" cried Kimberly.

The speakers on the console suddenly crackled to life. "Guys?" came Ian's voice. It sounded quiet and faraway, like he was shouting to us from across a great distance, and we all strained to listen. "Are... there? I can barely... you."

"Ian!" I shouted. "Ian, we're here! Where are you?"

"Is Brendan with you?" asked Zac. "Is he okay?"

"Brendan's here with... both okay," Ian replied, his voice growing fainter, the static-pauses growing painfully longer. "We're... Azhron, on Horath... hiding out from... Knights are everywhere..."

"Alpha, what's happening?" asked Sarah.

"Ayeyiyi, I've got them but I don't know how to keep them," Alpha replied.

"Try increasing the frequency," said Billy, as they both began furiously punching keys.

"Ian, if you can hear us, we're coming to get you, okay?" said Teresa. "We're not far away, we just need some time, but we will be there."

"... going to find... hide out anyway," Ian replied. "But there was something... saw Callan and... the book of Hades to Rita... don't know if... means any... soon..." And with that, Ian's voice faded away completely, and we were left with nothing but static.

"Ian," I said softly. "Come back."

"Alpha, can you get their signal back?" asked Scott.

"I'm trying," Alpha replied, "but ayeyiyi, they're so far away..."

Trini sighed and sank back. "I just feel so helpless," she said.

"At least we know they're okay," said Kim. "And we guessed right - they're in Azhron."

"What was that book that Ian mentioned, though?" Scott asked, looking up to Zordon. "The book of... Hades, was it? What was that about?"

Zordon shook his head. "I'm honestly not sure," he replied. "Although I know that I've heard that name before. Why does that sound so familiar?"

"It sounded like Callan gave it to Rita, whatever it was," said Sarah.

Zordon nodded. "Indeed," he said. "Alpha, please continue trying to establish a teleportation link-up with the planet's surface. And in the meantime, I think we need to consider something important we've so far overlooked," and he gazed around the room, suddenly thoughtful. "What exactly is Rita getting out of this."

* * *

The next ninety minutes passed with agonising slowness, made all the worse by the tense silence that filled the Command Centre. Tommy was sitting quietly over by the wall, Kimberly beside him knowing something was wrong but unsure how to ask. Jason, who hadn't said a word since we'd gotten back from the markets, had left the Central Chamber for the training room down the hallway, and while Billy and Trini helped Alpha at the control panels, the rest of us paced anxiously behind them. 

Finally, after what felt like forever, Zordon spoke. "Rangers, if you could all return to the Central Chamber," he said. "I believe we have something."

Jumping to our feet, everybody immediately gathered together under Zordon's plasma tube, while Alpha continued working by the side of the room. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jason silently step into the room and join us.

"You've found Brendan and Ian?" asked Teresa hopefully.

"Not yet," Zordon replied, "but they're not why I called you in. A few minutes ago, Rita herself left the moonbase, and our computers followed her trail to the snowfields of the planet Triforia."

There was a second of silence. "That's weird," said Kimberly. "She has to know we're looking for Ian and Brendan. Now would be the perfect time to attack."

"Unless it's something important," I said. "Which is probably really bad for us."

"Exactly," Zordon nodded, and he was about continue when Alpha suddenly burst into a fresh new fit of 'ayeyiyi's and spun around to the group.

"Rangers!" he said quickly, "I've managed to reestablish a link to Horath. We have a window of five minutes to get you there!"

"Great work Alpha," said Sarah. "Way to go."

"Well what are we waiting for?" asked Zac. "Let's roll!"

"You'll need to split up," said Zordon. "Peter and Jason, follow Rita to Triforia, and see whatever it was she wanted. Take the Tyrannozord in case you run into trouble. It will be cold, but your suits should protect you from the extreme weather. We'll upload all the data we have into the Tyrannozord's onboard computers."

"We're not going to run into any trouble from the locals, are we?" I asked.

Zordon shook his head. "The snowfields are completely absent of life, and we'll let the planet's crown prince know you're coming..."

"Four minutes!" called Alpha.

"Everyone else, Billy and Tommy included, head to Horath," Zordon continued. "It'll take too long to manually search for Ian and Brendan, but when we reached them earlier, we managed to get a lock on whatever it is disrupting planetary teleportation. We're going to get you as close as we can to that technology, and once you destroy that..."

"Ian and Brendan will be one button press away," nodded Trini.

"Exactly," Zordon said. "Good luck Rangers. May the power protect you."

"Awesome," I said, "let's go save our friends. C'mon," and everybody reached for their back pockets. "It's morphin' time!"

* * *

Jason and I soon saw that the Triforian snowfields were very aptly described. The entire landscape of mountains and valleys was covered in a thick layer of powdery white snow. Every so often, looking closely, I could see glimpses of dark cavern entrances or impossibly tall sheer cliffs that the snow couldn't fall on, but apart from that, there was only white that stretched for miles under a brilliantly-clear blue sky. In brilliant contrast to its surroundings, the magnificent red and silver Tyrannozord ambled gracefully through the snow-covered hills with Jason and I in the control room, the zord sending up a huge cloud of white powder with every colossal footstep, its armour sparkling under the frosty glare of the alien sun. 

"So," I said, sitting in the zord's cabin and watching the scenery pass as Jason guided the zord over the landscape, "we're on another planet again."

In the front seat, Jason nodded and continued gazing out the window deep in thought, only half his attention on the controls before him. "Hmm."

I glanced back to him and continued, determined to fill the silence that had hung over us since we'd left Earth. "Talk about from end of the spectrum to the other, though," I said. "At least Nerimos was deserted. It sounds like there's a whole civilisation on this planet, and..."

"I'm sorry, Peter," Jason said suddenly, looking back over his shoulder. "About before when Staghorn attacked me. I never thanked you and I should've. I'm sorry."

I paused. "Oh. That's okay," I replied. "I knew you meant to. You can just be a little single-minded at times, that's all."

Jason nodded and turned back to the front, but I knew I couldn't let the opportunity go. This was the most he'd said all morning, and remembering what Zac had said yesterday, I leaned forward. "Seriously, Jason, are you okay?" I asked. "I mean I'm sorry for pushing, but I know something's really bothering you. A week ago a freak like Staghorn wouldn't have gotten close."

Jason hesitated, hit the 'autopilot' button, and swivelled his seat back to face me. "I guess I just let my guard down," he said, his gaze meeting mine. "Zordon was telling me something through my communicator, but for the first time ever, I had to stop and think about it - I didn't know whether I could trust what he was saying, I didn't know the right thing to do." He paused. "It's so easy going into battle when someone else is calling the shots, you know, telling you what needs to be done. Everyone looks to me to know that stuff automatically, right?" I nodded, and he continued. "So what happens if I don't know?"

Through the windows I watched the Tyrannozord cross over a high ridge between two gigantic peaks before continuing down the sloping valley on the other side. I couldn't shake the feeling that Jason was confessing a very private secret, showing me a side of him that nobody else even knew existed.

"Well maybe you just need to trust yourself more," I said. "We all do."

Jason shook his head. "But that's not good enough. You shouldn't treat me like I'm the voice for everybody. And how do you know I'm always gonna get it right?" he asked, then sat back in his seat. "Is this what happens to heroes who've fought too much? You just start questioning everything, you can't even trust yourself?" He shook his head, and turned back to me. "I just don't want to reach the point where nothing's black and white any more, you know? The knowledge of right and wrong is all anybody really has."

I nodded. "I don't think that happens to everybody," I said. "For what it's worth, I know I haven't been doing this for as long as you have, and I know I'm still not that great at it, but you're a good person Jason, and even when the entire world's against you, you'll still have _me_. I promise."

Jason looked up, hearing the sincerity of my words, and his mouth curled into a smile. "Thanks," he said. "That means a lot."

I nodded. "It's what I'm here for," I replied, but glancing out the window, I caught sight of a black dot against the side of a mountain several kilometres away. "Hey, I think I can see it..."

Jason turned back to the snowfields. "Yep, that's where we're heading," he said, his voice stronger. "Should only be a couple of minutes."

I leaned forward to watch the cave approach, but something else was on my mind.

"Jason," I began, "you know the book that Callan gave Rita? Well I was thinking about this. In Greek mythology, the word 'Hades' has two meanings. It refers to Hades the god, brother of Zeus and Poseidon of course, but it was also sometimes used to refer to the whole Underworld itself."

"It's good to have someone who knows their mythology," Jason started, but stopped as he saw a line flashing on the screen before him. "Okay, we're here," he said, and he brought the zord to a stop right outside the cave I'd seen earlier. Getting up out of his seat, he turned back to me. "Let's go."

We quickly climbed down through the zord's interior, emerging through a small panel on the zord's right leg. Stepping out into the snow, I instantly felt the blistering cold chill me to my bones, and my boots sank down into the snow up to my knees. Behind me, Jason emerged from the zord and immediately felt the cold as well.

"Yeesh," I began, my teeth chattering, "Weren't our suits supposed to protect us from the temperature?"

"They are," Jason replied, shivering. "Imagine how cold it would be without them. C'mon, let's get inside," and we raced through the snow towards the cavern entrance, taking twice as long as we should have from having to wade through the deep snowdrift. The cavern entrance was about fifteen feet in diameter, with stalactites and icicles hanging over it, several of which were now lying on the ground a few steps inside the entrance. We charged inside and stopped a short distance in, taking a minute to catch our breaths and thankful to be out of the cold.

The cavern extended on for several metres, and we soon saw that the walls were lit with flaming torches. Summoning our swords, we followed the tunnel deeper into the mountain, but within a few metres the tunnel began to widen into a gigantic cavern, with flaming torches all around the cavern walls and two huge stone pillars side-by-side in the centre of the cave. Coming to a stop, Jason and I took a step back in awed silence, gazing around the giant cave. It was incredible, an unreal sight. But as we looked closer, we could see that all along the walls were stone inscriptions, pictures and words carved into the rock. In the centre of the room, a stone table sat between the two columns, deep in shadow.

"Whoa," I said, slowly walking towards the cavern walls, my footsteps echoing on the stone floor, "this is amazing." I lightly traced my fingers over the stone carvings, written in an alien language that I couldn't hope to understand.

"I don't even know where to start," Jason murmured, looking around the cave. Reaching down to his belt, he unclipped the scanner Alpha had given us before everybody had left earlier that morning and held it up, aiming the lens towards the wall he was facing and hoping there'd be enough light. "This is as good a place as any," and he lightly pressed the small button on top of the device. Instantly, the scanner captured the image of the wall and transferred it to the computers inside the Tyrannozord waiting outside.

Jason continued around the cave, deciding that too many pictures couldn't be a bad thing, taking as many pictures as time would allow. "What do you suppose all these things mean, anyway?" he asked.

Across the cave, I shrugged. "Beats me..." I said, but suddenly, I spotted something carved onto the wall before me, and did a double take. "Jason, get over here, quick!"

The Red Ranger immediately sprinted across the cave towards me. "What is it?" he asked, the second he'd reached my side. "What did you see?"

"That," I replied, pointing to the wall. At about eye level was a large picture of what looked like a gate of some kind, but Jason immediately saw what had surprised me - underneath the picture of the gate was a line of circles with the fourth circle highlighted, and beneath that carving was what looked to be a map, an outline of a coastline with a headland drawn in great detail.

"That's our solar system," I said, realising what I was looking at. "There's the sun, Mercury, Venus and Earth..."

"And that's the Australian eastern seaboard," continued Jason. "If I'm reading this right, these arrows here point straight to where Caloundra is."

"Damn," I breathed, as Jason raised the scanner and took several shots of the wall. "Even with everything else, I am so freaked out right now. This is just... damn."

Jason nodded, but as he stepped back to take some more scans, he bumped into the stone table in the middle of the room. "Hey," he began, turning to the table and looking down, "I think I've got something." Crossing the room, I saw that the tabletop contained more strange writing, and was covered by about an inch of grey dust. But at one place, there was a clear outline showing the table underneath. No dust.

"There was something here," Jason said, "something on the table. And judging by the amount of dust on everything else, it was only moved recently. Like about an hour ago."

Leaning forward, I reached down and traced the outline, smudging the dirt on my white glove. "It looks like a key," I said, "one of those thick medieval keys."

Jason turned to me, and I couldn't mistake the fearful tone to his voice. "Remember what you said earlier about the word 'Hades'?" he asked. "If Rita stole a key from this cave, what kind of doorway is that key going to open?"

There was an eerie silence as I collected my thoughts, the cave suddenly a lot darker and creepier. "I've got a bad feeling about this Jase," I said.

The Red Ranger took one final look around the cave. "I think we've got everything we came for," he said. "We need to get this back to Zordon and Alpha, like now."

* * *

Scanning the roadway from behind a crumbling stone column, Brendan quickly beckoned Ian over, and they dashed across the street and disappeared into the maze of stone ruins on the other side. 

"Maybe we lost them?" Brendan asked, as the two Rangers climbed through what had once been either a temple or a theatre. "I mean, we haven't seen any knights for a good half-hour."

Ian looked up, and pointed through the crumbling roof to a stone tower a short distance away. "It's probably more to do with that," he said. "The palace isn't that far away. They probably aren't expecting us this close."

"Still think you can get through to Callan?" asked Brendan.

Ian shrugged. "Maybe, I'm not sure," he replied. "I just can't believe that a Ranger could go bad, you know?"

Brendan nodded. "Like you said, he's supposed to be one of the good guys," he replied. "But you know, maybe after a while it just got all too much to... hey, what's that?" he asked suddenly.

Ian turned to see what had caught Brendan's attention - a short distance away, a high stone wall was running parallel to the street they were following. Too tall to see over, the wall was overgrown with vines but still looked relatively intact, leafy green trees on the other side giving the impression of a walled, private garden.

"Whatever it is, it looks like it's still in one piece," Ian said. "C'mon, let's take a look."

"Through there," said Brendan, pointing to a gap in the wall a few metres away, and jogging over, the two Rangers knelt down and quickly crawled through to the other side.

"Wow," said Brendan, stepping out of the wall and climbing to his feet beside Ian. They'd guessed only half-right - the wall wasn't protecting a private garden but what had undoubtedly been a cemetery, many years ago. The graveyard was as empty and as overgrown as the rest of the city, but somehow the silence here was even more unnerving. The graveyard was larger than it appeared, the crumbling, vine-covered wall behind them stretching away with no apparent gate, ruined tombs and collapsed mausoleums visible in the distance.

But as they looked around, they realised that the cemetery wasn't simply overgrown but had been actively attacked sometime in the past. The graves were shattered and broken, the tombs nothing more than rubble. Metal grates were torn, bent and twisted, and across from them, several statues appeared to have been physically broken down, lying in ruin across the grass.

Brendan stepped forward and picked up a piece of stone lying on the ground. "There are scorch marks on this rubble," he murmured, throwing the stone away. "What happened here?"

Walking slowly down the aisles of graves careful not to stand on any, Ian shook his head. "No idea," he said, then glanced up towards the nearby palace. "But given that stone wall and how close we are to the palace, I'd say we're standing in the royal cemetery."

Brendan turned to him. "Really?"

"Yeah," Ian replied. "Aren't all kingdoms supposed to have them?"

"You think Callan did all this?" asked Brendan. "Still angry at Varian so he took it out on the graveyard?"

Ian was about to reply when something caught his eye at the back of the cemetery - two tombs side-by-side, still standing in the face of the devastation and ruin around them. In fact, as he stepped towards them, he saw they almost looked to have been restored and looked after.

"That's weird," he said. But as he approached the tombs, he noticed the gate to one of them was slightly ajar, and the glint of something metal was shining out from within. _What is that? It looks like a suit of armour...  
_

"Oh..."

But just at that minute, Brendan glanced up to the sky and saw something that was instantly recognisable. Eight streaks of multi-coloured light, noticeably missing red and orange, were shooting down towards the city.

"Ian, it's the team, they're here!" he cried. Ian spun back around to the Aqua Ranger as Brendan watched the teleportation streaks approach. "It looks like they're heading down towards the coast, on the other side of Azhron!"

"That's not too far away," said Ian, already racing back towards Brendan. "C'mon, let's go!"

* * *

_Except for a few Shadow Knights, Callan had found the rest of the palace deserted, but as he reached the gathering hall outside the throne room, a dark figure suddenly stepped out of the shadows, blocking his path forward and raising a bladed staff._

"_Grey Ranger," General Wolfbane snarled with a predatory growl. "Your power is impressive, but I assure you that you are not taking one step past me."_

_Callan shook his head. "Conquerors and their arrogance," he said, then raised his blasters. "You enjoyed too many victories monster, and your time ends _now_," and he fired._

_The blasts whistled across the room but Wolfbane took to the air, leaping safely over the blasts, rolling to his feet and slashing his blade for the Grey Ranger. Callan ducked and the bladed passed over his head, blocking the blunt end of the staff before landing a rapid blow to Wolfbane's chest and kicking high. Wolfbane stepped around the blow and blocked a low punch before slashing low. Callan jumped back and over the blade and Wolfbane followed after him, swinging a wide vertical slash, but Callan raised his blasters and caught the blade in a shower of sparks._

_Striking the weapon away, Callan forced Wolfbane back, ramming the right blaster into the monster's stomach and smashing the left into the beast's snout. Dazed from the assault Wolfbane staggered backwards, and Callan spun around and kicked the bladed staff out of the general's hands. Wolfbane watched as the weapon clattered to the ground, and Callan took aim and fired - at point blank range he could not have missed, the blasts slamming Wolfbane back through a wall and into an adjoining chamber, the monster vanishing from sight as the room collapsed around him._

_His heart pounding in his chest, Callan turned back to the palace doors, and striding across the room, he threw them open._

_The throne room lay before him - in the centre of the room with his sword raised stood King Varian, waiting._


	5. Chapter 5

To my faithful reviewers :) -- Sky's Girl Forever, I'm so glad you're enjoying the stories. But if you don't like waiting, you're not gonna like how this chapter ends :). Koulagirl -- like I said, I knew I'd be pushing it with so many subplots, but this is a fairly enormous story, and the only thing I can promise is that if anybody's confused, once they reach the end of the story, it'll all make crystal-clear sense. Anyway, onto chapter five. Trust me, the cool stuff starts happening here :)...

**Chapter Five**

The Rangers shot down towards the city in eight bright flashes of light, materialising side-by-side across a wide lane by the city outskirts. On one side, stone ruins stretched as far as they could see, empty and silent, while on the other, the crumbling city wall stood only a short distance away, the coastline and crashing surf beyond.

"Creepy and deserted," said Kimberly, gazing around the city. "Cool."

Trini stepped forward, and looked back to the group. "I guess this is Azhron. I don't suppose anyone saw Ian or Brendan on the way in?"

Everybody shook their heads. "We'll have to stick with plan 'A'," said Teresa. "Find whatever is stopping us from teleporting and break it."

The Yellow Ranger nodded. "That's our best bet," she replied. "With luck, we should've arrived fairly close..."

"Guys?" said Scott suddenly, his back to the group. "I think I've got something. Up there on that hill."

Everybody turned in the direction he was pointing - about a kilometre beyond the city outskirts, a tall stone tower about the size of a grain silo stood on a grassy hill overlooking the coastline an array of bristling antennas protruding from the building's tiled roof.

"I think Scott's right," said Sarah.

Billy nodded. "Any kind of machinery designed to block or interfere with planetary teleportation would theoretically need broadcasting facilities," he said. "I'd venture to guess that's your best bet."

"About time we got to break something," said Zac.

Trini turned to Billy and Tommy. "We'll get going, but you'll have to stay here," she said. "Although not _here_ here. Callan probably saw us arrive. If there are Shadow Knights roaming the city, they won't be far away."

"Affirmative," Billy agreed. "On our descent I noticed a large structure approximately one hundred metres back towards the city that still looked structurally sound, a temple or hall of some sort. Tommy and I can shelter there until you return," and raising his morpher, the Rangers saw that the Dragonzord Coin was now faintly glowing. "I think Tommy's Power Coin is almost charged anyway."

"Yay for running and hiding," Tommy said, with too much enthusiasm not to be sarcasm.

Kimberly stepped forward. "We won't be long," she said. "We'll be back before you know it."

Trini stepped over to Billy. "Just promise you'll stay safe," she said softly. "I hate the idea of leaving you here to fend for yourselves."

"Affirmative," the Blue Ranger replied. "We'll be okay."

Trini nodded, and turned back to the others. "Let's move!" With that, the six Rangers immediately turned and raced away, disappearing into the jungle as Billy and Tommy stood watching them go.

Billy turned to Tommy. "I suspect we'd best get moving," he said.

Tommy nodded. "You saw this place," he began. "After you."

The two Rangers turned and quickly began jogging back down the street. Billy nodded as they rounded a corner and the building he'd seen earlier came into view - when the city was alive it had either been a church or a temple, and although weeds covered the walls and there were sizable holes in the building's roof, it still appeared structurally sound. Wide and tall with heavy stone walls, the temple had thick stone doors and was surrounded on all sides by a walled garden with a pair of enormous timber gates at both the building's front and back entrances.

Remembering what Tommy had said earlier, Billy looked to him. "We'll be safe there," he said. "We only would've slowed the others down had we accompanied them, and once they've taken care of the anti-teleportation broadcasts, we can..."

"Billy," said Tommy, "I don't want to talk about it. Drop it, will you?"

Billy looked away. "Sure," he said softly. "My apologies."

Tommy sighed at his friend's tone, about to reply when he caught sight of movement in the distance - a troop of armour-clad Shadow Knights, all armed with staffs and bladed weapons, rounding a corner up ahead straight for the street he and Billy were standing in the middle of. The rubble protecting the teens from view would only hide them for a few more seconds.

"Billy..."

Seeing the approaching soldiers, Billy glanced around quickly, soon spotting a tiny alcove by the side of the building's walled fence. "Over there!" he said tersely, and the two Rangers sprinted over, leaving the street a second before the knights rounded the corner. Ducking behind the stone wall, they crouched down out of sight as the troops marched past, holding their breaths and hoping they hadn't been seen.

Finally, the troops passed by, heading around to the plaza where the Rangers had arrived and disappearing from sight. Watching the street, Billy let out of a sigh of relief. A troop of unsuperpowered soldiers wasn't that worrying, all things considered, but if they had a way of contacting Callan, things would've gotten very difficult very quickly. Peter had said that the Staghorn monster had gone missing mid-fight, which was also a reason to worry. Unknowns made for bad science, and he tried to avoid them as often as possible.

"I believe they're gone," he whispered.

Behind Billy, his back to the road, Tommy was peering through a crack in the stone wall. "Billy?" he began. "I don't think that we're the only ones hiding from those soldiers," and he glanced back to Billy and indicated the gap in the wall. "Check it out."

Stepping forward and kneeling down to peer into the building, Billy immediately saw that Tommy was right - the temple was full of people and movement. Soldiers, dozens of them, all young men wearing armour with even younger teenagers visible in the background. They carried similar weapons to the Shadow Knights but their body armour was red and silver, and although there was a definite tension in the air, these soldiers were neither grim nor silent. A group of them closest to the wall were talking over a table of maps and scrolls, while the men behind appeared to be sparring with swords and staffs.

"Extraordinary," Billy murmured, glancing to Tommy. "What do you think?"

"I think you'd best tell me who you are and what you're doing here," came a sudden voice from behind them. "Rest assured much hangs on the speed of your answer."

They immediately spun around to face the speaker - one of the soldiers stood over them, only a few feet away. He had copper-coloured skin and a head of dark curls, and although he was dressed in the same red and silver armour as the other soldiers inside, the sword at his belt was different, and his gauntlets and boots had a thin blue band around them. But as they looked, they saw that although the soldier's body gave the impression of a hardened warrior, his face was that of a boy, maybe fifteen or sixteen, no older than either of them. It was his eyes that startled them the most - they were hard, the eyes of a far older man.

Billy and Tommy quickly climbed to their feet. "We apologise for the intrusion," Billy said, "but we are neither villains nor spies."

The boy shook his head. "You certainly do not appear to be heroes."

Billy felt Tommy bristle and move to respond, but the Blue Ranger turned and held up his hand, and Tommy sighed and backed down. "I know what you may be thinking," Billy began, turning back to the warrior and hoping his guess-work was correct, "but we are no allies of Callan, and you need not fear for your army. Callan wishes us dead, as we protect a friend he seeks to destroy."

The boy's eyes narrowed, and he was silent for a moment, before suddenly offering them a smile and stepping back. "Forgive me," he said. "Friends are hard to come by in times such as these, but I see the honesty in your eyes. Please, follow me. We must not stay outside."

With Tommy following a half-step behind, Billy followed the teen back around to the back of the building.

Billy stepped forward to catch up to the soldier. "Forgive me for asking," he began, "but who are you?"

The boy nodded. "My apologies," he replied, speaking quickly. "My name is Trystenn. I'm sure you know of the day when Callan the Grey Ranger killed Varian and conquered this city, but what you may not know is that Varian was never meant to be king of Azhron in the first place. He had a brother who's throne he usurped, and _that_ particular line went unbroken."

Billy stopped and turned to him, realising what the soldier was telling them. "And you are the rightful king, aren't you?" he asked.

By now they'd reached the enormous wooden gates. Trystenn nodded as he threw them open, ushered the Rangers into the overgrown courtyard and bolted the gates shut behind them, before crossing the courtyard and pulling open the temple's stone doors.

"Here," he said, and led the two Rangers inside. The temple's interior was wide and airy, with smaller rooms along either wall all occupied by Trystenn's soldiers. But at the sight of the two intruders the soldiers immediately turned to face them, many raising their weapons and stepping forward. There were maybe twenty or thirty of them in total, most of them young men who, like Trystenn, looked far too young for their age.

Trystenn stepped towards them. "These men are friends," he called, looking around the room. "Do them no ill." The men instantly backed down, and Billy knew he'd guessed right - there was a commanding tone to Trystenn's voice that reminded him more than anything of Jason.

Trystenn turned back to the two Rangers. "The rightful prince, technically," he continued. "Callan has been trying to wipe out all traces of Azhron's ruling family for six hundred years, for what purpose I do not know. Some leave the country, some indeed leave the planet, and some are simply not that fortunate."

"So why are you in the city?" Billy asked.

"We saw Callan and a troop of his knights leave yesterday," Trystenn replied. "We thought we could retake the city in his absence."

"I'm afraid your plan stood no chance," Billy said. "Callan was on Earth only briefly."

"That we know," Trystenn replied. "Although..."

At the opposite end of the hall, a sudden commotion caught the attention of all three, and they turned as a young boy, barely ten or eleven years old and lacking the armour of the soldiers around him, raced through the hall towards them.

"Trystenn!" the page called, approaching the group. "We have reports of a hundred Shadow Knights all approaching us from the south and accompanied by a strange horned-beast!"

"Staghorn," nodded Billy, then turned to Trystenn. "They didn't follow us, did they?"

Trystenn shook his head. "They cannot have," he replied. "We watched you approach from the north." He paused, shaking his head. "This is bad," he continued, speaking quickly. "Callan has more power than we can hope to match, and his knights totally outnumber us. If he moves against us now, we stand no chance. Are either of you fighters or great warriors?"

There was a second of silence as Billy glanced down to his communicator, now practically useless thanks to the interference in the planet's atmosphere, and briefly looked over to Tommy, still silent and eyes downcast, before turning back to Trystenn. "Negative," he replied softly. "Not at present."

Billy watched as Trystenn's face turned pale. "Then we're in a great deal of trouble," he said.

* * *

As Trystenn's small band of refugees all began readying themselves for battle, outside, Staghorn and the hundred Shadow Knights behind him moved quickly towards the temple, the entire company coming to a hall outside the large timber gates behind the building. 

"This is the place?" Staghorn asked, turning to the Shadow Knights' general beside him.

The man nodded. "The exiles are located within this temple," he replied. "Several knights on patrol spotted them earlier. I can't imagine why Trystenn returned, but they're definitely inside. Finally we have the opportunity to wipe out the rebels with a single stroke."

Staghorn's mouth curved into an evil grin. "And if we're lucky, there'll be a Power Ranger or two in there as well," he said, then raised his voice. "Surround the building. You," and he turned to the soldiers on his left, "come with me, we attack from the front. The rest of you, stay here. Break down these gates, burn the courtyard, and as Callan ordered, leave nothing alive inside."

* * *

"Sir, they're surrounding the building," one of the soldiers shouted, the fear in his voice audible. "The monster is leading half the army to the courtyard at the front of the temple!" 

"The troops at the back have a battering ram," called another soldier from the rear of the hall, a short distance away from Billy, Tommy and Trystenn. "They're trying to break down the gates!"

Helplessness flashed across Trystenn's expression, but was almost immediately replaced by a determined resolve, and the prince looked back to Billy and Tommy beside him. "I'm sorry you were both caught in the middle of this," he said quickly. "If either of you could bear arms, at least we will fall fighting," and with that, Trystenn turned back to the refugees, all of them looking to him for guidance.

"To arms brothers!" he said, striding into the centre of the room and unsheathing his sword. "Our foes are upon us - they expect to find us as cowering fools, but let us meet them as wolves. If it is our blood they want, then we will fight them for every last drop!"

At the back of the room, Billy watched as the soldiers rallied around Trystenn. Frowning, he hesitated for a few seconds but then turned to the Green Ranger nearby. "Tommy," he began, "would it be entirely possible to perhaps have a word with you in private, if I may?"

Looking up, Tommy nodded, and Billy took the Green Ranger's arm and steered across the hall into one of the side rooms before turning back to face him.

"What's the matter?" Tommy asked.

Billy adjusted his glasses, hesitated a second longer, then spoke, looking up and catching Tommy's gaze. "I'm not sure if you've noticed, Tommy, but right now an entire army of Shadow Knights is surrounding this building, every one with the single goal of killing everybody in this temple. Right now, that includes the two of us." Tommy stepped back at Billy's tone, and he opened his mouth to argue but Billy continued. "Of the two of us, one of us is a master martial artist with more than enough experience in defeating large groups of opposing forces, while the other is the tech-support guy who the rest of the team can barely understand."

Tommy lowered his gaze, and shook his head. "Billy, they need a hero," he said softly. "They need a Power Ranger, not a ..."

"And they're going to get one," Billy replied, his voice so strong he surprised himself. "Tommy, _you_ are the Green Ranger, not the other way around. Do you think that Kimberly fell for the Green Ranger the second she saw him? Does Jason consider the Green Ranger his brother and equal? Of course not," and Billy paused, letting what he was saying sink in, before continuing. "That's _you_, Tommy, that's all you."

Tommy stepped back even further and felt the corner of the room behind him. "But what if...?"

"Callan started his career as a hero and look what happened to him," Billy continued. "Perhaps it's for the best you began evil. But irrespective of everything else," and Billy indicated the hall behind them, "there are approximately three dozen people in immediate danger out there and there is no question that you are going to go back out there and help them, is that clear?"

The Blue Ranger nodded, stepping back, but he glanced to Tommy and frowned. "Sorry for raising my voice," he mumbled.

Tommy paused, stunned into silence, but then slowly, a smile crossed his face. "Billy, you're one in a million," he said, then clasped the Blue Ranger's shoulder. "And I don't know where we'd be without you. Thanks. Now c'mon, powers or not, let's show these guys what happens when they mess with the Power Rangers."

* * *

The entire wall shook as the battering ram slammed against the twin wooden gates protecting the temple's courtyard. Quickly backing away, the six soldiers carrying the ram raced forward once again, the gates shaking under the impact. Watching as the soldiers attacked the gates once more, the general stood to one side, smiling as whatever holding the doors closed began to splinter and give way. Another pounding blow saw the gates begin to sag on their hinges, and with one final crash, the gates splintered and broke open. 

The soldiers threw the battering ram aside as the general stepped into the courtyard, the rest of the Shadow Knights following him forward and spreading out on either side - only to come to a sudden stop at what lay within. Tommy, his hands folded across his chest and appearing supremely unconcerned at the sudden appearance of the army, stood facing them down from the centre of the garden.

"Hi ya fellas," he said.

The general stepped forward in almost drunken disbelief. "You must be joking," he said, a cruel smile taking shape beneath his helmet. "I have fifty men behind me, and they're relying on one lone boy to protect them? You don't stand a chance."

Tommy nodded. "You know what, you're completely right," he said. "Just me against so many of you," and the Green Ranger grinned. "It hardly seems fair."

"Your confidence is amusing," the man smirked. "But tragically misplaced."

"Really?" Tommy asked. "Well you can think what you want, but trust me on this," and the Green Ranger's voice was suddenly like steel. "Not a single person here will take one step past me, is that clear?"

"If that's your choice, so be it," the man replied, and drawing his sword, he suddenly leaped towards the Green Ranger, swinging the blade as he charged. Tommy ducked the general's first swing and blocked the second, knocking the man back with a palm strike followed by a powerful uppercut. The man roared and swung again, but Tommy stepped around the blow, catching him on the shoulder as he stumbled past. The general turned back to face him, dazed, and while he was still off-balance, Tommy spun around on the spot, kicking high, slamming his heel into the man's helmet and taking him head-over-heels to the ground.

"C'mon boys," he said, turning back to the army and wiping the sweat from his brow. "You're gonna have to do better than that."

The other knights closed in quickly to avenge their fallen leader - one attacked from the left but Tommy caught the man's descending staff and struck him away with a blow to the ribs, before turning back, blocking a blow from the right with his forearm, grabbing his opponent's arm and spinning him off his feet. Two more soldiers attacked, falling towards him from either side - he ducked under a blade and lightly kicked the man away, stepping back around a wide swing from the second knight's staff and flattening the man with a blow to the jaw - the first soldier returned, but Tommy ducked a wide swing and blocked a high punch before taking the man down with a punch to the solar plexus.

More soldiers fell towards him, the closest knight swinging his sword low - Tommy leaped up and over the blade, turning to drop the soldier with a roundhouse right punch that spun the knight off his feet. Turning back around, Tommy dodged around another sword, grabbed the man's shoulder while he was still off-balance and threw him into a third attacker, downing them both. Another soldier struck out for Tommy with his staff, but Tommy dodged the move and kicked the weapon away with his left foot, sending the man crashing with a right spin kick. The soldier dropped his staff as he fell, and spinning around, Tommy kicked the weapon towards a line of approaching soldiers with such force it sent them all crashing back.

Another soldier rushed in from the side, but Tommy stepped around a high punch and sent the man crashing as he passed with a high kick. Two more adversaries attacked, slashing forward, and Tommy took to the air, leaping over their blades and kicking forward, taking several knights to the ground as he landed. His heart pounding, Tommy ducked instinctively as a staff swept towards him. The soldier swung again but Tommy caught the weapon and used it to block an attack from an opponent on the other side. Kicking the first soldier away, he wrenched the staff from the man's grip and used it to bat away the second soldier's weapon before sending him backwards with a blow to the helmet. Spinning the staff around him, Tommy turned back to the rest of the troop, who for their part were now edging back away from him.

A few metres away, Trystenn was watching the battle through one of the temple windows, staring in wide-eyed amazement as beaten and unconscious Shadow Knights continued piling up around Tommy. "Your friend is certainly... impressive," he said finally.

Billy nodded, and turned to the prince. "And there are ten more just like him, all on their way," he said. "Tell your troops to stand down - we're in no danger, not any more. The Power Rangers are here. The threat is over."

Across the courtyard, now wary of their opponent, the Shadow Knights closed in cautiously around Tommy before all falling on him at once - wielding the staff, Tommy blocked a high punch and struck the soldier away with a blow to the chest, spinning the weapon around and striking a second away before ducking under a sword, dropping low and sweeping a third opponent's legs out from under him. Spinning back around to face two more soldiers, he dodged a wide swing from one and blocked the second's staff with his own. The first soldier leaped back towards him, swinging high, but Tommy stepped back and struck him away as he passed, flattening the second knight with a clanging blow to the helmet.

Another soldier raced towards him, swinging high with a sword - Tommy stepped to the side and raised the staff to deflect the blow, the sword slicing the staff neatly in two. But now armed with two weapons, Tommy struck the soldier away with one hand, took out a knight on the opposite side with a blow to the shoulder and spun a third soldier away from him. Turning back as a soldier charged through the courtyard towards him, he launched both weapons through the air towards the man, the weapons knocking the soldier off his feet and taking him to the ground.

Behind Billy and Trystenn, one of Trystenn's guards suddenly raced through the temple towards them. "My prince!" he called, and Trystenn turned to the man. "The monster and his knights have broken through the front gates!"

Billy turned to reply when he suddenly realised he could hear a faint humming noise, and reaching down to his back pocket, he held out his morpher - the Dragonzord Power Coin was now glowing so brightly it hurt to look at. Billy nodded. _They were ready_. "Tommy!"

The Green Ranger kicked a soldier away and looked over to Billy. "Yeah?"

Billy pulled the coin free and held it up. "It's finished charging!" he called, and taking aim, he threw the coin through the air.

Tommy reached for his back pocket, snagged the coin out of the air with his other hand and slammed it into his morpher. "Awesome," he grinned, as Billy returned his own coin to his morpher and stepped out into the courtyard to join him. "Let's do it! It's morphin' time!"

"Dragonzord!"

"Triceratops!"

The courtyard exploded in light and sound, and when the blaze of light faded away, the Green and Blue Rangers were standing side-by-side facing down the army.

"I still can't take down a monster on my own," said Tommy quickly. "You go, and I'll deal with the rest of these guys."

Billy nodded. "Affirmative," he replied, and raced back into the building.

"Billy!" Tommy shouted, and as Billy stopped and turned back to him, Tommy pulled his Dragon Dagger free and threw it towards the Blue Ranger - Billy reached out and caught the dagger, and in a flash of light, the Blue Ranger was suddenly wearing Tommy's chest shield and golden armour. "Go kick its butt," Tommy called.

With Trystenn and the refugees now watching in silent, open-mouthed astonishment, Tommy turned back to the remaining Shadow Knights.

"Well boys," he said, striding towards them, "the rules just changed," and the Green Ranger charged forward to continue the battle.

* * *

With the gates to the front courtyard blasted clean off their hinges, the Shadow Knights marched through the archway before the dust had even begun settling, Staghorn urging them forward from behind. 

"Break down the doors!" Staghorn called, as the knights approached the temple. "Storm the building and..."

Without warning the building's stone doors exploded outwards in a blaze of fire and smoke, the knights leaping to safety as rubble and debris rained down over the courtyard. Turning back to the building's entrance, everyone watched as the smoke cloud began to dissipate, only to see the Blue Ranger standing framed in the doorway, the golden Dragon Shield around his chest sparkling in the sunshine.

"The refugees of Azhron are under my protection," said Billy. "And make no mistake, none of you will achieve your goal this day."

Across the courtyard, Staghorn sneered. "And you alone will stop us, will you?" he asked, before lowering his antlers and sending a massive blast of energy spiralling towards the Blue Ranger. The entire area erupted in sparks and fire, but as the blaze faded away, Billy calmly stepped through the haze towards them, totally unaffected by the blast.

"Affirmative," he replied brightly.

Staghorn roared. "Shadow Knights!" he thundered, gripped with white-hot rage. "Get him!"

As one, the knights leaped towards the Blue Ranger, all slashing out with their weapons. Without breaking his stride, Billy caught a staff as it swept towards him and lightly struck its owner away, before turning to block a blade and launching the soldier backwards with a right backhand. Billy continued forward as more soldiers fell towards him - he struck away an attacker on the left, sent an opponent on the right crashing with a rapid palm strike, before catching a high punch and spinning the man off his feet. More soldiers raced towards him, but spinning around on the spot, he took one to the ground with a high kick before sending the other flying back over the wall with a heel to the chest. Another pair of knights attacked from each side, but the Blue Ranger easily caught their helmets, threw them away and continued, as if nothing had interrupted his stroll through the courtyard.

The crowd parted, the soldiers still standing all giving the Blue Ranger a wide berth, and Billy suddenly found himself face-to-face with Staghorn.

"Fancy armour or not, you don't stand a chance," the monster rumbled.

Billy nodded. "Let's test that theory," he replied, and with that, Staghorn attacked.

The monster immediately struck out for the Blue Ranger, but Billy blocked a high punch and batted away a low swipe, striking the monster away with a rapid chest strike. Staghorn stumbled backwards and Billy took to the air, leaping forward and landing a high kick to the beast's snout before dropping to the ground and finding his footing. Staghorn roared angrily and lashed out - Billy struck away one blow and kicked away a stomach-high swipe, landing a powerful blow to Staghorn's stomach before forcing the monster back with a jump kick. Dazed from the assault, Staghorn grunted and blasted again with his antlers, the blast bouncing straight back off the Dragon Shield and slamming the monster backwards.

"Enough," said Billy, and reaching down, he unsheathed the Dragon Dagger and raised it high - glowing with power, he slashed the weapon down towards the monster, power exploding from the blade's arc, scorching across the battlefield and slamming into Staghorn, the beast instantly destroyed in a massive explosion that lit up the courtyard and echoed down through the deserted city.

At this, the remaining Shadow Knights all dropped their weapons and ran, disappearing back out into the city ruins. Billy nodded and turned back to the temple, only to see the Green Ranger watching him from the doorway.

"You know, for the tech-guy," Tommy began, walking towards the Blue Ranger, "that was _awesome_."

* * *

Quickly making their way through the abandoned city, the six Rangers passed the crumbling city wall and continued towards the hill in the distance. Passing fields of stone ruins, they reached the grassy hill in good time, the crashing ocean down to their right and the tower rising above them. Forty feet tall and resonating with a curious humming noise, the tower seemed to lack any kind of window or openings apart from a thick wooden door at its base. 

"What do you think?" asked Scott as they approached.

"This is definitely the place," nodded Trini. "I wonder who built it?"

"Probably Callan himself," Teresa replied. "To keep everybody out of his city. I mean, a device designed to mess with teleportation? He probably had us in mind when he built it."

"So let's bring it down and give him one heck of a surprise," said Sarah. "Power Mace!"

Zac nodded. "Power Axe!" he called, the weapon materialising in his hand. "No guards. Guess they're all down in the city looking for us."

"Guys," said Kimberly suddenly, looking back down towards Azhron, "check it out." From their vantage point, they could make out a great deal of movement through the ruined city streets, and even as they watched, there was an explosion behind a large building, a bright fireball rising into the sky.

"Okay, we need to move," said Trini, and turned to the Black Ranger beside her. "Zac...?"

"You got it," he said. Stepping forward, Zac levelled his Power Axe at the wooden door and fired, instantly reducing the door to splinters. Without wasting another second the Rangers charged inside, coming to a stop immediately inside the doorway.

"Wow," said Teresa simply.

Inside the building, heavy-duty machinery seemed to rise up through the tower all the way to the ceiling, a vertical maze of twisting pipes, clanking gears, sparking wires and humming power boxes, all leading to an array of antennas poking out through the tower's roof. Large exhaust fans stood a few metres away on the left, while to the right were several computer consoles, the buttons and keys beneath the monitors decorated in an alien language none of them could identify. However, everyone's attention was drawn to the centre of the room, where a shining black crystal hung suspended in a crackling electrical field between two large metal plates a few metres in front of them.

"It's broadcasting a signal into the planet's atmosphere," said Trini. "Just like Billy said."

"He sure picked the wrong mission to sit out on," Kimberly nodded.

Zac nodded. "Let's just not tell him what we're about to do," he said. "Any ideas?"

Beside him, Sarah stepped forward. "Just one," she said. "We're the Power Rangers - if we can't break it then it can't be broken."

Taking aim, she swung her mace for the black crystal with all her strength, the weapon instantly shattering the jewel into thousands of shards and scattering them across the room. For a second, nothing happened, and Sarah stepped back to join the others. Suddenly, the gears above them began grinding to a shuddering halt as the power boxes around all began to shake erratically. The chain reaction continued up through the tower, machinery screeching and shuddering in protest - sparks and smoke suddenly erupted from a power box halfway up the tower, and pieces of metal began falling free as explosions rocked the towering machinery.

"Great work!" shouted Scott over the noise of the destruction. "Now let's get out of here!"

The Rangers turned and raced back out of the building, leaping clear just as a massive explosion shook the entire building, a fireball roaring up through the tower and blasting the roof clean off. The Rangers reached the edge of the hill and turned back, catching their breath as debris continued to rain out of the sky from the burning tower.

Zac had to smile. "And we didn't even need Megazord," he said.

Trini raised her communicator, and pressed the top button - static no longer issued forth, and she smiled as she heard Billy and Tommy's voices. "Guys, we did it!" she said, looking back to the other Rangers. "Our communicators are online!"

Teresa smiled. "So let's go pick up Billy and Tommy, and then go find Ian and Brendan," she said. And reaching for their communicators, the Rangers teleported from the scene in six bright flashes of light.

* * *

_The sounds of battle across the city died away as Callan stepped into the throne room, his footsteps echoing off the stone tiles, his gaze locked onto the king's._

"_Varian..."_

_The king smiled coolly. "Callan," Varian said, and Callan felt a surge of white-hot rage at the mere sound of Varian's voice. "I'd heard Zordon had recruited you as a Ranger. You're looking well."_

_Callan stepped towards him, and was darkly pleased to see Varian raise his sword and take a half-step back. "Bad luck for you," he said._

"_On the contrary," Varian replied. "I can finish what I started."_

"_You pompous bastard," growled Callan, his rage spilling over. "You took everything from me just because you could, and I'm here this night to repay you."_

"_I know your code hero," Varian replied with a smug smile. "I am but a man, and as a Ranger you are forbidden to..."_

_But as Varian spoke, Callan threw his blasters aside, reached down to his belt and pried his Power Coin free - he demorphed in a flash of silver light, and as the fallen blasters vanished, he threw his coin away where it clattered to the ground behind him. Varian stepped back again, glancing from the coin to Callan and suddenly realising that things weren't quite going how he'd planned._

"_I am here as a man, not as a hero," Callan replied, his expression one of cold fury. "And I promise you Varian you will not live to see this night end!"_

_Desperation overtook him, and Varian leaped towards Callan, swinging blindly. Callan easily ducked under a wide slice, dodging a second slash and stepping around a third. Enraged, Varian slashed the sword back towards him, but Callan struck the king's arm away and attacked, landing a punch to the king's stomach and a blow to his jaw. Varian stumbled back but swung again - stepping forward, Callan caught Varian's wrist and aimed a blow for the king's arm, breaking the bone with a 'crack' and snapping it backwards at an impossible angle. Varian cried out in pain and dropped the sword, and Callan struck him away with a right backhand that sent the king sprawling to the ground._

_Even as Varian scrambled back away from him, Callan coolly reached down and picked up the fallen sword. His heart racing, he calmly walked towards Varian, and stood over the defeated king._

"_Please," Varian stuttered, the arrogance and contempt gone from his voice, "please... you're a Power Ranger..."_

_Callan nodded. "Yes," he said, "and I kill monsters," and with that, he slashed the sword straight for Varian's throat._


	6. Chapter 6

Koulagirl, no need to worry about fangirlness :). I think the far greater fanboy moment for me personally is watching Billy kick butt in that last chapter, and up to this story I'd given everybody in the series a jaw-dropping, "I don't believe they just did that..." moment, and both Billy and Tommy were overdue :). I hope you enjoy chapter 6...

**Chapter Six**

Goldar was standing on the balcony of the lunar palace when Rita stepped out of Finster's lab, her wand in one hand and the book of Hades in the other. Goldar immediately turned to her in shock - the witch was smiling victoriously, her expression one of hard-earned triumph, and in those dark eyes, evil was dancing.

"Goldar," she began, crossing the throne room towards him, "I go now to open the Gateway. It's part of the ceremony that I do this on my own, but rest assured I will finally take what is rightfully mine."

"And the Rangers?" Goldar asked.

Rita grinned a cruel smile. "On a planet far away, searching for their friends," she replied. "When I return, everything we've ever wanted will be ours - the world burning, the galaxy trembling, and our name written in the stars."

With that Rita turned to leave, but Goldar stepped forward. "I make one request, Empress..."

Rita turned back to her golden general, already knowing what Goldar was about to ask. "Your wings, Goldar?" she said, and Goldar nodded. "A fair request, I think. For failure I took them away, but in victory you shall have them back." And still grinning, the witch raised her wand and vanished in a flash of flame.

* * *

By the time Jason and I returned to the Command Centre, the computers had downloaded all the pictures we'd taken, and Alpha was translating the stone carvings as fast as he could. But as the two of us arrived back in the Central Chamber, one look up to Zordon told us everything we needed to know. Zordon looked worried, and in all the time either of us had known him, the sage had never looked this troubled before. Things were bad. 

"Rangers," he began, and Jason and I glanced to each other - fear was clearly evident in our mentor's voice. "I'm glad you made it back safely. Tell me, did you find anything in the cave?"

I nodded. "It was incredible," I said. "There was a map of the Australian coastline there in the cave, and Caloundra was carved right onto it, under a picture of a gate or something..."

"A gate?" Zordon repeated, his voice oddly quiet. "You didn't happen to find a key in this cave by any chance?"

Jason nodded. "Sort of," he replied. "There was a stone table in the cave, it looked like there should've been a key lying on top but it was missing. We guessed that Rita had taken it."

"She did," Zordon replied simply. "And it could mean the end of us all."

"Zordon, what is it?" I asked. "What's going on?"

"Everything has its counterpoint," Zordon began, "and the same is true for the Morphin' Grid. From various entries in our archives and from the carvings you found on Triforia, we've managed to learn that the book of Hades and the key from the cave open something called the Gateway. Now, behind the Gateway lies the antimatter version of the Morphin' Grid, a dimension of unfathomable evil power, and whoever opens the Gateway gains complete control over the power on the other side."

"Which is the reason Rita stole the key," I nodded, "and why she wanted the book in the first place."

"But it's more than that, isn't it?" asked Jason. "It's the reason she attacked Caloundra in the first place, the reason she wanted to destroy the city all along - to find this Gateway."

Zordon nodded. "So the legend goes," he began, "almost five thousand years in ancient Macedonia a sorcerer learned of this power, and he travelled as far away from his homeland as possible before attempting to reach it, which brings us to the east coast of Australia. Recording everything in the book of Hades, the sorcerer attempted to breach the walls of reality, but what lay on the other side scared him, so he sealed the Gateway shut and sent both the book and the key off-planet. The key ended up on Triforia, and at some point King Varian must've found the book of Hades, which is where the king's dark power came from."

"And when Callan killed Varian, he inherited the book by default," I said.

"Exactly," Zordon nodded. "I just never imagined that was the reason behind Rita's attacks on the city, I only half-believed in the existence of the Gateway in the first place."

"There wouldn't be another gateway in the temple of Lothos, would there?" Jason asked.

Zordon paused, a thoughtful look on his face. "I'm not sure, but now that you mention it, that wouldn't surprise me at all," he replied. "Regardless, the other Rangers can take care of Callan and whatever else is happening on Horath. You two must find Rita and stop her, no matter what. If she opens the Gateway, there's no telling how powerful she'll become."

I nodded. "Of course," I said. "This sounds like defcon four level material."

"Big problem," Jason began, glancing from Zordon down to me. "We don't even know where this Gateway is..."

"We do now!" said Alpha triumphantly, turning back to us. "Rangers, I've just finished translating the carvings you found. In other words, we know the location of the Gateway!"

"Alpha, that's great," I said. "Where are we heading?"

"About seventy feet under the city's central business district," the robot replied. "The Gateway lies in a large cave deep under the city, probably accessible through the city's sewer pipes. If you just give me a moment here, I'll print you out a map of the Caloundra City sewer system..."

"Isn't that information kept strictly confidential?" I asked.

"Not from us," Alpha replied.

Jason nodded and turned to me, his earlier indecisiveness gone. The world was in danger, which was pretty familiar territory, and although the other five Senior Rangers weren't at his back, I was. He knew what to do. "Okay, Rita already has a head-start, we don't have a moment to lose," he said, as Alpha pulled a print-out free, stepped over and handed it to him, the route to the Gateway highlighted along the map. "Thanks Alpha," he continued, turning to me. "You ready?"

"Rangers, before you go," said Zordon, and we looked back up to him. "Legend has it that the entrance to the Gateway is guarded by a ferocious lava beast, a vicious creature from the planet Slindar. Rita will certainly have made it past unharmed, but I doubt the creature will let you pass as easily. Good luck, and may the power protect you."

Jason and I nodded, and reaching for our communicators, we teleported into Caloundra.

* * *

The Blue and Green Rangers stepped out of the courtyard and onto the ruined street, watching as the remaining Shadow Knights fled in all directions, putting as much distance as they could between themselves and the two heroes. 

"Just for the record Billy," said Tommy, turning to the Blue Ranger, "that was amazing."

Billy smiled and gave Tommy back the Dragon Dagger - in a flash of light, the Dragon Shield returned to the Green Ranger. "To say nothing of your own feat," Billy replied. "That was extraordinary."

Tommy shrugged. "Just needed somebody to remind me what was important, that's all," he said, then looked up to the sky. "Oh hey, check it out..."

Six multi-coloured streaks of light shot down out of the sky towards them, and the other six Rangers materialised on the street beside them seconds later.

Kimberly immediately turned to Tommy. "Your powers!" she exclaimed. "You're okay!"

The Green Ranger nodded. "Back in business," he smiled. "And we can teleport again? Good work guys."

"Thanks," Zac said. "How'd you go?"

"Pretty good, actually," Tommy replied. "Found some refugees, met a prince, fought off an army, Billy stomped all over Staghorn. You know, typical Sunday afternoon stuff."

As one, everyone turned to the Blue Ranger. "That was the explosion we saw?" said Sarah. "Wow. Way to go Billy."

Billy blushed beneath his helmet. "Now all we need to do is find Ian and Brendan..."

"Let me save you the trouble," came a voice, and they all turned to see the Grey and Aqua Rangers jogging across the courtyard towards them. "Fancy meeting you guys here," Ian continued with a smile.

"Ian! Brendan!" cried Teresa, as Sarah immediately hugged Ian and Zac picked up Brendan with a rib-crushing bearhug. "It's great to see you guys! We were so worried..."

"Trust me, it's good to be seen," said Ian.

"How did you find us?" asked Trini. "Did you teleport?"

Brendan shook his head as Zac let him down. "We saw you guys arrive and just kind of followed the explosions," he replied.

Ian nodded. "We ran into Prince Trystenn, and he told us everything," he explained. "The prince is very confused, by the way. Where are Peter and Jason?"

"Either on the planet Triforia or back on Earth pursuing Rita," Billy said.

Scott nodded. "Long story, we'll fill you in when we can," he said.

Tommy glanced around the group. "Well now that we're all together, let's go find down Callan," he said. "Take the fight to him and finish this today."

Glancing back to the road, Kimberly quickly tapped Tommy on the shoulder. "Uh guys?" she said, as everyone turned to look. "Not gonna be a problem."

Walking down the rubble-lined street towards the line of Rangers, taking slow, deliberate steps as he approached, was the grey warrior.

"So," he began coolly, coming to a stop ten metres distant. "You defeated my Shadow Knights, destroyed Staghorn and regained your ability to teleport. One problem Rangers - there's still _me_."

The remaining Rangers except for Ian all summoned their Power Weapons with a thought, and Trini stepped forward. "Callan, you were a hero once, a long time ago," she said. "It doesn't have to end like this."

The warrior laughed contemptuously. "That sounds like fear to me," he said. "The last time all of you working together could barely land a blow."

Ian stepped forward. "Because the last time, you were fighting defensively," he said. "But this street is flat ground with nowhere to hide, and trust us, things are going to end very differently this time. You want this Power Coin?" he asked, tapping the coin at his belt. "Come and get it."

"As you wish," the warrior growled, and with that, he lowered his head and thundered towards them.

"Let's show this guy what the Power Rangers are about," said Teresa.

"Right!" and the Rangers all charged towards their oncoming opponent.

Racing past the others, Tommy leaped into the air with a high kick. The warrior ducked under the blow and Tommy dropped to the ground, spinning back around and aiming his boot for the warrior's helmet, but the warrior blocked the attack, struck away a low swipe and kicked the Green Ranger away. Even as Tommy fell, Sarah attacked from the side, swinging her mace in a wide arc - the warrior stepped around the blow and retaliated, but Sarah caught his fist and struck it away, aiming a punch for the warrior's helmet. He spun under the blow, striking away her mace and sending her stumbling back with a low kick before turning to face the other Rangers. But while the warrior was still off-balance, the Black Ranger attacked, carving his Power Axe across the warrior's chest armour in a shower of sparks and sending the warrior crashing.

The warrior recovered instantly and summoned his sword in a flash of light, slashing it for the nearby Black Ranger, but Scott dropped down before Zac, blocked the blade with his staff and struck the warrior back with a blow to the helmet. Following him forward, Scott swung high - the warrior caught the staff and knocked it aside, but as he retaliated, Billy leaped forward, rolling to his feet and blocking the sword, Scott swinging low and landing a blow to their adversary's stomach. The warrior grunted and raised his blade, but Billy swung high for the warrior's forearm, forcing him to drop his sword and kicking it away as it fell. The warrior immediately backed out of range and summoned his two blasters - standing behind the two Blue Rangers, Trini took aim and threw her daggers, destroying both weapons in a blaze of sparks and smoke.

Stumbling back out of the smoke cloud, the grey warrior saw the White Ranger standing closest and turned to attack, but Teresa cracked the Power Whip towards him, forcing him away, before wrapping the whip around his ankles and taking him face-first to the ground. Smashing his fists against the street in frustration, the warrior rolled to his feet and was immediately under attack as Brendan leaped down before him and slashed forward with his sai. The warrior blocked his left and dodged around the right, but Brendan was too fast, ducking under a high kick, landing a rapid blow to the warrior's shoulder and sending him crashing with a low kick. Dazed, the warrior turned to retaliate, but raising her bow, Kimberly fired a barrage of arrows straight towards him, the entire street erupting in sparks and smoke.

Coughing, the warrior staggered out of the smoke cloud as Ian stepped towards him.

"Time to end this," he said. "Now and forever."

The warrior roared and lashed out as Ian approached, but the Grey Ranger blocked and dodged his fists, striking away a low kick and knocking the warrior back with a blow to the chest. The warrior grunted but retaliated, swinging high - Ian ducked under the blow and blocked a low punch, before landing a judo chop to the warrior's ribs before smashing him with a left hook all in one smooth motion. His opponent staggered backwards away from him, and following the warrior forward, Ian struck away the warrior's armoured fist, spun around on the spot and smashed his boot into the warrior's helmet, launching him off his feet and into the air.

"You know, for an ex-Ranger," Ian began, as the warrior climbed to his feet, "you're doing pretty badly at this." His adversary lurched forward, swinging high, but the moves were clumsy and thrown out of desperation, Ian easily catching the warrior's fist and throwing him away. "But that's the thing, isn't it?" Ian summoned his blasters and took aim for the crystal coin at the warrior's belt. "You're _not_ a Power Ranger, are you? In fact you never were," and with that, he fired.

At point blank range he couldn't have missed, the blast instantly destroying the coin in an explosion of sparks and fire and slamming the warrior backwards. The other nine Rangers all joined Ian as the smoke cloud began to clear and the warrior found his footing, expecting to see the blond-haired Callan.

But as they looked on, the Rangers saw that the figure standing before them was taller and wearing thick leather as opposed to grey body armour, the figure's body covered in a tangled mix of vines and matted fur. Glancing up, they saw a long canine snout and two ears silhouetted in the smoke, and under that, two hungry yellow eyes were staring down at them with a look of pure malice.

Ian glanced back to the temple, seeing the prince and his soldiers watching from behind the walled fence. "Rangers, Prince Trystenn," he called, "I'd like you all to meet **General Wolfbane**."

There was stunned silence as Wolfbane stepped out of the haze towards them, instantly recognisable from the picture everyone had seen in the Command Centre yesterday.

"But..." stuttered Scott, at a loss. "Whoa..."

Trini shook her head and turned to Ian. "General Wolfbane?" she asked. "But how did you know?"

"Yes," snarled the monster, his voice deep and primal, and everybody turned back to the beast as he focussed his yellow eyes on Ian. "How could you possibly have known that it wasn't Callan you were fighting?"

"You didn't exactly make it hard," Ian replied, then nodded to the scar on the monster's right arm. "I didn't think anything of it at the time, but when we fought in Caloundra yesterday, you bled _sap_," he said. "Then when Brendan and I were hiding from the Shadow Knights, we stumbled into the royal graveyard, which had been completely obliterated a long time ago. Maybe Callan had been angry enough to trash the place, but Callan _wouldn't_ have left the bodies of the other two generals, Xerxes and Taltos, in the only tombs still standing, would he?"

Wolfbane sneered. "The bodies would have rotted away long ago."

"But their armour didn't," Ian replied. "And everything came together when Brendan and I met Prince Trystenn. There'd be no motive for Callan to spend all these years hunting down the royal family. But as long as that family line continues, the kingdom of Azhron can't technically be yours, can it?"

Standing beside Ian, Brendan shook his head. "I don't believe it," he said.

Kimberly nodded. "So all this time, we were fighting Wolfbane?"

Ian nodded. "We were supposed to _think_ we were fighting Callan, sure," he said, "but it wasn't true. We were being played for fools, everyone was. Our badguy was General Wolfbane all along."

* * *

_His eyes shut, Varian heard the whistle of the descending blade, and then silence. Nothing, but not the nothing he'd expected. Slowly, cautiously, the king opened his eyes - Callan stood over him, frozen in mid-motion, holding the sword steady only a shadow's breadth from Varian's neck._

_Callan seemed to stand there forever, but finally, with a sigh, he lowered the blade and stepped back._

"_I want to," he said softly, gazing from the sword to Varian, "I've dreamed of this moment, every part of me knows you deserve this. But I can't." He paused, and threw the sword away. "Because it's what _you'd_ do, isn't it?" The Grey Ranger shook his head. "I told Zordon I'd bring the king of Azhron back alive, and I'm going to keep my word."_

_As if he hadn't just had a sword at his throat, Varian sneered in contempt. "Heroes," he said, spitting the word out like poison, "and their pathetic codes of honour. You were beaten before you even..." but he was cut off as Callan stepped forward and kicked him in the jaw._

"_Didn't say I was going to be nice about it, though," said Callan._

_Suddenly, without warning - blood and fire and screaming agony, so overwhelming it forced the breath from his lungs. His whole body shaking in shock, Callan turned his head to the side, the only command his body would obey, only to see the blade of a long staff, embedded in his back._

_Callan shut his eyes. "Wolfbane..." he wheezed, gasping for air._

_And the general suddenly appeared behind him, jerking the blade free. "You lose, Ranger," he growled, and throwing Callan aside, the Ranger's body slammed into the wall, fell to the ground and moved no more._

_Turning to the king, Wolfbane took Varian's good arm and helped him to his feet. "General Wolfbane," Varian puffed, nursing his broken arm, "you have my gratitude."_

"_And you have mine," Wolfbane replied, grinning nastily. Varian turned to him, confused, but could only gasp as Wolfbane dragged him close, raised his blade and rammed it through Varian's chest, "for the kingdom you just handed me."_

_He smiled triumphantly as Varian's expression turned from shock to blank lifelessness, and throwing the king's body away where it collapsed against the throne in a crumpled heap, Wolfbane turned to the Power Coin in the corner._

_Just in time to see the golden coin teleport from the room in a flash of silver light._

* * *

"Callan didn't kill Varian, did he?" Ian asked, as the line of Rangers stepped towards Wolfbane. "He was there, but he didn't. He couldn't. He was a hero, and he just refused to compromise. So I'm guessing that when his back was turned, _you_ killed Callan, took out Varian to get the kingdom and then let the entire galaxy think Callan had fallen." Ian paused. "In fact I'll bet you, Taltos and Xerxes were planning to take out Varian all along, you were just waiting for the right opportunity." 

Wolfbane growled. "Varian was a fool, a pompous simpleton with more power than he knew what to do with," the monster growled. "With Azhron under our control, we could have taken this planet for ourselves. Everything would have been ours! Even that fool Ultramarine wouldn't have stood a chance against us."

Sarah raised her mace. "If I were you, I'd hold that thought for a second," she said.

Ian nodded. "We might be a little over six hundred years late," he said, "but we're here to finish what Callan started. You attack one of us and you attack all of us, and this ends _now_."

Wolfbane didn't reply, but as he continued backing away, he reached down and pulled free something attached to his belt. Holding it high, the Rangers saw it was a large red crystal.

"The witch told me to use this if the tide of battle turned," the monster said. "Guess now's the time," and with that, he threw the stone at the ground with all his strength. Smashing into the cobbled roadway, the crystal instantly shattered into thousands of tiny shards, but without warning, there was a great rumbling noise and a blinding flash of light. The Rangers all stepped back as a cloud of smoke obscured their view, and they could only look on as Wolfbane rose above them, suddenly fifteen storeys tall, his strength magically restored.

"I shall back take the Power Coin that is rightfully mine!" the beast cried, his voice echoing out across the deserted city. "Nobody shall stop me now!"

Down below, Ian turned to his the group. "Guys," he said, "this one's for Callan. We owe him."

Kim nodded. "Should we call on the zords?" she asked.

"Won't it take them like a week to arrive?" asked Brendan.

Trini shook her head. "The zords are like our Power Weapons," she explained quickly, "wherever we are, they come to us. And now that we're here..."

"We could summon the Megazords," began Billy, glancing from Ian to Tommy, "but I think we can go one better. Brendan, can you pilot the Stegozord in Peter's place?"

Brendan nodded, realising what Billy had in mind, and as Tommy reached for the Dragon Dagger to summon the mighty Dragonzord, the Rangers all turned to each other and raised their arms to the sky.

"We need dinozord power, now!"


	7. Chapter 7

Koulagirl -- once again, thank you for your reviews. I've said it before -- I have trouble with most fight scenes (at least, battle scenes without zords), so I'm really glad that you're enjoying them. And I was worried I'd been too obvious with the plot-twist about Callan, particularly given his first line of dialogue back in chapter one :). Having said that, there's three fight scenes in this chapter, and I think you'll really love them. Enjoy :).

**Chapter Seven**

Teleporting into Caloundra, Jason and I materialised inside one of the major sewer pipelines running under the city. Summoning our Power Swords we set off, Jason using the map to easily navigate our way through the dank, shadowy tunnels. The main sewer pipe was wide enough for us to travel easily, with grates on the ceiling providing shafts of sunlight every few metres, and a large bundle of smaller pipes running along the wall beside us.

Jason paused as we passed by a smaller side tunnel, glancing down to the map then back up. "I think we need to head down there," he said, and we both leaped over the trench in the middle of the pipe.

"After you," I said, as Jason climbed into the narrow tunnel.

He turned back to me. "You're not claustrophobic, are you?" he asked.

"Not really," I replied, as I climbed into the tunnel behind him and we continued. "But this place kinda creeps me out..." I broke off quickly, ducking under a thick stormwater pipe that crossed the ceiling above us. "Not to mention, I'm too damn tall. I just keep telling myself that I can teleport out of here any time with the touch of a button."

"And that's working?"

"Not really, no," I replied, then turned to him. "For the record, Jason, it's good to have you back."

Jason smiled as we turned right into another large tunnel. Up ahead, the thin pipes we'd been following all disappeared down into a grate on the tunnel floor. "Thanks," he said. "Where do you think all those pipes head, anyway?"

I glanced back along the wall. "They carry water, gas and electricity to most of the city," I said, "so they'd probably head deep underground."

Jason nodded, and coming to the grate, he stopped, bending down and quickly swinging it open. "Looks like this is the way."

"We're going down?" I asked.

"We're going down," he replied, then smiled beneath his visor. "After you."

We climbed down into the lower level and kept going, continuing along the path Alpha had mapped out for us on the map, our footsteps echoing down through the tunnel. This pipe looked a lot older than the tunnel above, with cobwebs hanging from exposed pipes, puddles of slime on the ground, and ancient, crumbling masonry. I followed Jason without hesitation as we turned left once, travelled for a few metres then turned right again into a low pipe, having no clue as to our location other than about fifty feet underground.

Up ahead, Jason stopped and pulled open another grate on the tunnel floor, and we both quickly dropped down into an ancient maintenance pipe that probably only saw human life once a year. But about thirty feet ahead of us, a large section of the tunnel wall had been broken down, the floor around the gaping hole strewn with rubble and debris. Approaching slowly, holding our weapons defensively, we soon saw that an eerie light was shining out of the gap, and ducking under an exposed pipe, we crept up to the opening and peered inside.

Behind the entrance lay an utterly enormous cave, easily about four or five times the size of my house, with smooth stone walls and a smooth floor. On the wall directly opposite us was a giant arch in the shape of an open mouth which appeared to lead to another cavern, and the light grew visibly brighter through there. Jason took a hesitant step into the cave - when all of a sudden, a giant red arm ending in a three-clawed fist swept past the opening, catching him completely by surprise and slamming into him with such force that he flew through the air and crashed to the ground against the cave wall about twenty feet away.

"Jason!" I cried, charging in after him, but I didn't stand a chance as the clawed arm struck me as well, the blow lifting me off my feet and launching me through the air, where I crashed down beside Jason and rolled to a painful stop. Still with our weapons (although Jason had since dropped the map), we both climbed to our feet and immediately turned around, only to see nothing short of a nightmare on four legs.

The creature we were facing was huge, its blood-red body thick with muscle. As tall as a horse and standing on all fours, the beast's hind legs were shorter than its disproportionately long and powerful forelimbs, all four legs ending in massive yellow claws, two facing forward and a third thumb-claw facing back. The creature's body curved down into an elongated neck, covered in thick, armoured scales and holding the beast's head only a short distance above the ground. The head itself was small and narrow, with eyes that glowed white and jaws of wickedly-sharp teeth, two massive teeth on the creature's bottom jaw giving it a vicious-looking overbite. The creature was also radiating a tremendous amount of heat - even from a distance it felt like we were standing in front of a furnace. And most frightening of all, the beast was rapidly charging across the cave towards us.

I glanced to Jason. "I think we found the lava beast."

Jason nodded. "I think _it_ found us...look out!"

Galloping towards us, the lava beast roared and aimed its left fist straight for my head. I narrowly dived out of the way, the beast's hand slamming into the stone wall with such force it left an impact crater of chipped and cracked stone. Jason leaped forward and swung his Power Sword at the creature's exposed neck, but the blade merely bounced off the armoured scales and the lava beast instantly retaliated, swiping its right arm at Jason and sending him crashing. I quickly ran over and helped the Red Ranger to his feet, but the lava beast had already turned and was lumbering back towards us.

Gritting our teeth, we raced forward. The beast swung its fist towards me but I dived under the lava beast's arm, rolled to my feet and batted away the creature's claws with my sword in one smooth motion, before smashing the back of my hand into the beast's head as hard as I could. The animal roared in anger and casually swept me aside with its arm, the force of the blow lifting me off my feet and slamming me into the rocky wall where I dropped to the ground seeing stars. Back across the cave, the lava beast swung its right forearm for Jason, but he nimbly ducked under the blow, dodging to the side as the beast rammed an open palm towards him and swinging his sword, the very tip of the weapon slicing through the beast's hide. The lava beast roared, and Jason quickly somersaulted to safety as it raked its claws through the air after him.

Jason dropped to his feet as the lava beast quickly lumbered towards him. By now I'd recovered, and I raced back across the cave, sword raised. The beast swiped out at me without looking, but I leaped into the air and the blow passed harmlessly underneath, before landing beside the creature and slashing my sword. The beast ducked back, and Jason took the opportunity to aim a high spin kick at the beast's skull. The lava beast grunted as the blow connected and aimed a retaliatory swipe at the Red Ranger, before turning back to me and smashing its fist into my gut, the blow driving the air from my lungs and sending me crashing back once again. Jason leaped forward to attack, but was also sent flying as the beast casually swept him away.

The Red Ranger quickly recovered and got to his feet. 'We're getting nowhere,' he thought, 'and we're running out of time.' Turning back to the lava beast, he glanced up and suddenly caught sight of the same bundle of pipes that we'd been following before, emerging from a crack in the cave wall. 'Guess the pipes were laid just above the cave and they've sunk. Peter did say the pipes went deep underground...hey, wait a minute...'

"Peter!" he called over his shoulder. "Keep him busy, I've got an idea!"

On the other side of the cave, I quickly looked from the lava beast to Jason and back again. _Great_. "Hey you!" I cried, and the lava beast turned its head toward me. "Yeah, I'm talking to you ugly!" At this, the creature spun around to face me and began thundering across the cave with a roar. I immediately turned and backed away, ducking under a vicious swipe and rolling to safety as the animal charged after me.

Hoping his idea would work, Jason raised his sword and leaped towards the wall, swinging high and instantly cleaving through the bundle of pipes. The first two only carried electrical cables, but the last one now gushed a steady torrent of fast-flowing water. _Bingo_.

Across the cave, I saw Jason slice through the pipes out of the corner of my visor, and realising what he had in mind, I quickly dived under another angry swipe from the lava beast, got to my feet and raced over, the beast hot on my tail. With the animal charging towards us, Jason reached for the water pipe and turned to the lava beast.

"Hey lava-head," he said, the beast only a few metres away and closing in fast. "Cool off." And with that, he swung the water pipe down away from the wall, the torrent of water smashing into the beast and sending it crashing back away from us. Slowly climbing to its feet, the lava beast howled in pain as Jason continued soaking it with water gushing from the pipe, the beast's blood-red skin visibly fading to a pale yellow and steam now rising from its body. Roaring weakly, the beast sank down onto the ground, looking like it was about to pass out.

"Let's finish this," said Jason, raising his sword high into the air. I nodded, and raised my blade towards his. The two weapons crossed in midair, and a brilliant burst of energy suddenly exploded from the two blades, spinning through the air and smashing into the downed lava beast. The blast lifted the animal off his feet and slammed him back into the far wall, hitting with such force that the entire wall shook, the stone cracking and crumbling. As the animal dropped to the ground, rocks and stones from the broken wall began to tumble down over him, and the lava beast was soon completely buried under a pile of rocky debris.

We both slowly lowered our swords. "Well, that was fun," said Jason.

I paused, catching my breath. "I only wish we had some time to recover, but I think we'd better move."

He nodded. "You're right, let's go."

With that, we turned and raced across the cave towards the archway we'd seen earlier. Crossing under it into a narrow tunnel, we followed the tunnel around as it opened into a huge room. Flaming torches lined the walls casting flickering shadows all around us, and up ahead, two deep firepits lay on either side of the stone floor, the dancing flames lighting up the cavern. But beyond the firepits on the far wall, we immediately saw another enormous archway surrounded by very familiar stone carvings, and below that rested a solid stone panel which, even as we watched, was slowly rising up into the wall, a strange flickering glow visible on the other side.

_The Gateway_...

Standing in front of the wall on a small platform was none other than Rita Repulsa herself, her wand in one hand and the Book of Hades in the other, chanting some kind of incantation from the book in an ancient, unrecognisable language. Beside her, I could see the key from the cave on Triforia embedded in a lock on the wall.

"Rita!" Jason cried, "give it up! It's all over."

Jason's voice echoed through the cave, and her concentration broken, Rita immediately spun around in surprise. But that was all it took - the rising stone panel immediately slowed to a grinding halt, and as Rita turned back to face it, the panel began falling back down to the floor before slamming shut. Smiling beneath my visor, I glanced to Jason.

We'd done it.

Rita stood facing the Gateway for a few seconds longer, her initial surprise rapidly giving way to mounting fury, and throwing the book of Hades aside, she turned back to face Jason and I, pure fury visible in her eyes. It had taken her so long, and she was so close to attaining her goal. There was no way that she was going to be scared away by kids in bright costumes, not here, and not now.

"Power Rangers," she began, barely controlling her anger as she slowly began descending the stairs towards us. "What do you think you're doing here?"

"Stopping you," I said, as Jason and I crossed between the twin firepits.

"Yeah," Jason agreed. "We know why you're here, and we're not going to let you open the Gateway."

"Fine," the witch replied. Nodding to herself, she gripped her wand tightly and determinedly began striding towards us. "You've interfered too many times now, and although I hate getting my hands dirty, I'll just have to do what I should have done a long time ago," and she raised her wand menacingly. "_Destroy you both myself_."

* * *

Far away to the west, halfway between the ruined city and the distant line of mountains, thunder rumbled and lightning struck down from a suddenly-cloudy sky - with a flash of light, three massive dinozords suddenly appeared, the black Mastodon, blue Triceratops and yellow Sabre-Toothed Tiger racing across the landscape towards the Rangers. As they approached, Tommy brought the Dragon Dagger to his lips and played a simple, six-note tune, and almost immediately, the mighty green Dragonzord had teleported from its underwater lair on Earth and arrived spectacularly on the scene, thundering towards Wolfbane and shaking the ground with every enormous step. 

"This is it guys!" cried Zac, and he, Billy and Trini teleported into the rapidly approaching zords, each Ranger materialising in their respective control rooms and reaching for the controls. "Zord transformation sequence, now!"

Smashing through the already crumbling city walls, the three zords reached the ruins of Azhron and turned towards the Dragonzord, all four zords beginning to transform. The Dragonzord lifted into the air as its chestplate disappeared, its arms drawing back as both shoulders rotated forward, slamming together to form golden chest armour. Down below, the Mastodon lifted into the air and split in two to provide the zord with arms, and as the Dragonzord's massive grey legs retracted up into themselves, the zord began lowering itself back down, the Sabre-Toothed Tiger and Triceratops rolling underneath and rotating vertical to give the Dragonzord legs. Finally, as the zord's tail teleported away, the Dragonzord's lower jaw dropped down to reveal a silver mouthplate and flashing red visor.

Still on the ground, Kimberly and Tommy teleported into the zord's control room and joined Zac, Billy and Trini, Tommy arriving in the central position as the colossal zord turned and faced Wolfbane, ready for battle. "Dragonzord in fighting mode, online!"

Behind the Dragonzord, the Junior Team's five zords all suddenly appeared in a storm of lightning bolts, faithfully thundering across the empty landscape towards the ruined city, the orange Stegozord leading the charge, with the white Velociraptor and blue Brontosaurus directly behind and the shining Iguanodon bringing up the rear, the purple Rhamphorynchus cruising through the sky high above. Seeing the zords powering towards them, the five Junior Rangers reached for their morphers, Brendan smiling with delight as he teleported into an orange cockpit.

"Okay guys," he began, "MegaIguanodon power, now!" The radio speakers in the other four zords fell silent for a second before briefly crackling to life once again, causing everyone to smile and chuckle. "Damn, Peter's seat is so much comfier than mine."

Approaching the city, the Stegozord and Brontozord drew side-by-side - coming to a stop, their legs and tails folded back, the Brontozord's head sank to the ground and their bodies flipped vertical. Behind them, the Iguanodon lightly jumped into the air, its legs folding back and arms flattening against its sides. Dropping down onto the Stegozord and Brontozord, the Iguanodon gained a new pair of legs, while its back armour rotated forward to form a new chestshield. Powering towards the zord, the Velociraptor nimbly sprang into the air, splitting in two in midair and instantly giving the Iguanodon arms. Finally, the Rhamphorynchus dropped down out of the sky and attached to the Iguanodon's back, and the zord's snout rolled back to reveal a flat, silver faceplate with a pair of glowing golden eyes, the Rangers instantly finding themselves teleported into the zord's cockpit, Ian in the centre.

"MegaIguanodon, powered up!"

Its transformation completed, the MegaIguanodon crossed the deserted city to stand beside the Dragonzord facing down their opponent.

"You can use every weapon you have," Wolfbane began, his voice echoing across the city, "but Callan could not defeat me and neither will you. Now give me that which I deserve!"

"You know, you should be careful what you ask for," said Ian, the radio broadcasting his words across the field. "Because you might just get it."

Wolfbane snarled, baring his fangs. "Have it your way," he growled, and hesitating a second longer, he charged across the battleground towards them, shaking the deserted city with every gigantic footstep.

"Let's show this guy who he's dealing with," said Tommy, and with that, the Dragonzord and MegaIguanodon raised their armoured fists and powered towards the approaching monster, the stage set for an epic battle.

The three combatants met in the middle of the city, the Dragonzord instantly swinging out with a right hook. Wolfbane ducked under the blow, but was knocked back as the MegaIguanodon smashed him with a powerful left backhand. The beast quickly regained his footing and raced forward with a burst of speed, knocking the MegaIguanodon backwards with a high kick before turning to the Dragonzord. But the Senior Rangers were ready, blocking a punch from the warrior and sending him stumbling with a blow to the stomach. The MegaIguanodon quickly rejoined the Dragonzord, and both zords charged forward, aiming twin punches for Wolfbane's snout. Raising his gauntlets, the monster blocked both blows, struck the MegaIguanodon away before slamming both fists against the Dragonzord's chestshield and sending it to the ground.

The Dragonzord crashed to the Earth in a cloud of dust, showers of sparks raining down on the Rangers within its cockpit. "Guys," started Kim, as they fought to regain control of the zord, "we've taken a hit, we'll need some time here."

"Got you covered," nodded Ian, and as Wolfbane advanced on the downed Dragonzord, the Junior Rangers charged the MegaIguanodon forward to take up the attack, striking out with a right hook. The blow landed in a shower of sparks, Wolfbane spinning around to face the zord and retaliating with a left backhand which the zord nimbly dodged. But as the zord recovered, Wolfbane leaped forward on the offensive, and the Rangers had to steer the MegaIguanodon under a high punch before blocking a low kick with a metallic clang and striking the monster's boot away. Unfazed, Wolfbane smashed his right fist into the zord's chest and his left into the zord's head, the MegaIguanodon stumbling backwards in a shower of sparks and fire.

"Back in the game," said Trini, as the Dragonzord powered back across the ruined city. Hearing the zord approach, Wolfbane roared and sprang into the air towards it, but as he descended, the zord caught his fists and threw him aside. Recovering quickly, the beast rolled to his feet and leaped back towards the Dragonzord, swinging high, but the zord dodged his fist, blocked a second punch, and easily batted away a third. Turning to the side, the warrior smashed his right gauntlet into the Dragonzord's chest, but the Rangers retained control of the zord, and brushing the warrior's arm aside, turned and lifted him into the air with massive uppercut which sent him to the ground with an earth-shattering crash several hundred metres away, the beast levelling an entire street of half-standing buildings as he rolled to a stop.

By now, the MegaIguanodon had recovered, and charged over to the Dragonzord. "Good work guys," said Teresa, "let's keep it up," and the two zords turned and powered across the battlefield.

Still determined to reclaim the Iguanodon Power Coin at any cost, Wolfbane climbed to his feet but almost immediately found himself under attack as the two zords approached, the MegaIguanodon swinging low while the Dragonzord aiming a high roundhouse punch. The monster dodged the former and dived to the side around the Dragonzord's metal fist. The two zords turned and continued the assault, but leaping forward, Wolfbane blocked a punch from the MegaIguanodon and kicked the zord back, before ducking under a swipe from the Dragonzord and landing several rapid blows to its golden chestplate. Both zords recovered instantly, however, and wheeling around on the spot, they slammed their fists into his chest and launched him into the air.

Wolfbane hit the ground with an almighty crash, shaking the entire city as he landed. Dazed from the blow, Wolfbane picked himself up and turned to the two zords facing him from across the city.

"Fine then," the monster growled, and holding out his arm, a long, bladed staff appeared in his outstretched hand in a flash of blue light. Raising the weapon and holding it in front of him, the beast turned back to face his opponents, and not wishing to disappoint him, the Rangers pushed the zords forward to continue the battle.

* * *

Aiming her wand, Rita sent a massive blast of energy spiralling towards us. We both leaped into the air, somersaulting over the witch and landing between her and the Gateway. Rita angrily spun around. 

"Leave this place," she growled.

Jason shook his head. "You're not going to open the Gateway."

"You'll have to go through us," I added.

"Well that's fine by me," she finished, and raising her wand, she charged towards us.

In unison, we swung our blades towards her as she approached, but raising her staff, Rita blocked both blades and batted them away before striking me back and turning to Jason, swinging high. Jason nimbly ducked as the red orb and crescent passed over his head, and he quickly dodged to the side as Rita swung again. Turning back to face her, he slashed out with his sword, but Rita moved fast for somebody older than the pyramids, easily blocking the blow, striking the sword away and aiming low, Jason leaping up and over the wand. Racing back towards Jason, I rejoined the Red Ranger and the two of us continued our attack. I sliced my blade down in a wide diagonal arc, but Rita effortlessly batted the blade away, turning quickly and blocking a diagonal slice from Jason, before stepping back and sending another blast of energy hurtling towards us.

Jason and I dived to the side, the blast smashing harmlessly into the ground behind us. I rolled to my feet, raised my sword and spun back to the witch, swinging the blade in one smooth motion, but she raised her wand and halted the sword midswing. Holding her hand out, she muttered a quick chant, and a blast of fire exploded from her fingertips, launching me backwards through the air. Even as I fell, Jason charged back towards her, swinging his sword in a wide horizontal slash - blocking his blade, she batted away the sword and swung high. Spinning on the spot, Jason ducked under the move and raked his sword back through the air. Rita almost casually blocked the blow, and as she glanced up to the ceiling, several boulders suddenly came away from the cave roof, falling on a direct path for Jason. Raising his sword, Jason struck them away as they fell, but another blast of energy and the entire cavern erupted in sparks and smokes, and Jason stumbled back away from her to join me.

"You're not facing one of my monsters now, Rangers," she said, slowly advancing.

"You know, we're gettin' that," I said, and glanced to Jason. "Any ideas?"

"She's vain, likes to hear herself talk," he whispered. "Play it up."

I nodded, but turned to him. "Wait, I like to talk..."

"Go!" he said.

I leaped back towards her with a high kick, but Rita raised her wand and blasted me out of the air. Jason raced past me as I climbed to my feet and the two began once again trading blows, and I charged back to attack while Rita was distracted. But while still ably fighting Jason, the witch turned and began fending off blows from me as well, easily keeping the two of us at bay. Stepping back, Jason and I both swung our swords above our heads and simultaneously brought them down towards her, but Rita ducked back and the two blades bounced off each other with a clang - as we turned back to her, she raised her hand and muttered something under her breath. A second later, a wall of concussive force smashed into us, lifting us both off our feet and slamming us back in an explosion of sparks and smoke.

Jason crashed to the ground between the twin firepits while I smashed into the wall and dropped to the ground. Climbing to his feet, the Red Ranger immediately raced over towards me. But wheeling around with her wand glowing, Rita levelled the staff at Jason and blasted the Red Ranger clean off his feet, sending him crashing back towards the edge of the firepit.

Across from Rita, I climbed to my feet and raised my sword as the witch stood to her full height and turned back to face me.

"Children," she sneered. "That's who Zordon keeps sending against me, time and time again. Children with no idea what power actually means." She paused, her gaze focussing on me. "I tired of these games long ago. I think I'll have to send Zordon a message he'll remember..."

"Rita!" shouted Jason, and both Rita and I immediately spun around in the direction of his voice - across the cavern, the Red Ranger stood beside one of the firepits, holding his arm out over the roaring fire.

And in his outstretched hand, the book of Hades.

"_**NO**_!" Rita screamed, and immediately levelled her wand for Jason. But as she turned away, I raised my sword and leaped towards her - with the silver blade glowing, I swung the sword straight for her wand. The two weapons met and my blade instantly smashed the red orb before cleaving clean through the crescent in an explosion of sparks and fire, the force of the blow instantly throwing Rita to the ground.

There was a minute of silence as Jason jogged over to join me, as across from us, Rita turned to stare incomprehensibly at her shattered wand. She looked back to us as we stepped towards her, the rage in her eyes being rapidly replaced by confused shock.

"You know what Rita?" Jason asked, as Rita scrambled back away. "You were right. Zordon did make a mistake, and it nearly cost us everything." He paused, stepping forward. "But let's talk about mistakes. You've attacked this city, what, fifty times by now? Only to lose spectacularly every single time. For what, to soothe your own ego? To remind yourself how big and scary you are? Yeah, we're really petrified here. If you're so great and powerful and better than us, Rita, then it's about time you figured something out - you never won in the past, you didn't win today and you are not going to win, _ever_. Not while the good guys are here." He paused, shaking his head. "Now get off our damn planet."

Without another word, Rita vanished from the scene in a flash of flame, leaving Jason and I alone and victorious.

I turned to the Red Ranger, my heart still pounding double-time. "Whew," I said. "We did it, we won."

He nodded, smiling beneath his visor. "I almost don't believe it," he said. "Good work. Smashing the wand, that was brilliant."

"Couldn't have done it without the distraction," I said.

"Thanks," he replied, "hold this for a second," and handing me the book, the Red Ranger jogged over to the Gateway, pulled the key free and turned back to me. "Okay, let's get out of here, drop these off in the Command Centre and go find the other Rangers."

* * *

Crossing the ruined city, the MegaIguanodon reached Wolfbane and immediately swung a roundhouse right punch. Ducking the zord's metallic fist, Wolfbane carved his blade back across the zord's chest-shield in a shower of sparks before turning to face the Dragonzord. But as the Senior Rangers charged the Dragonzord forward, there was a flash of light and the zord was suddenly holding the enormous Power Staff. Wolfbane hesitated but attacked regardless, slashing his blade for the approaching zord - thundering towards him, the zord swung the drill tip of the staff for the descending blade, instantly shattering it before carving the weapon back across Wolfbane's chest armour and sending him crashing back in a blaze of fire and smoke. 

Finding his footing and still dazed from the attack, Wolfbane turned back to the Dragonzord to retaliate, but the MegaIguanodon charged towards him on the offensive. Striking away a kick, the zord blocked a low punch and forced the monster back with a blow to the chest. Wolfbane recovered and spun back around, but the Rangers pressed the zord forward, jarring the beast with a powerful left hook followed by a blow to the stomach. Wolfbane retaliated in desperate anger, but charging forward, the MegaIguanodon blocked a high punch and aimed a powerful right uppercut straight for Wolfbane's snout, the blow lifting the monster off his feet and slamming him to the ground.

The Rangers watched as Wolfbane regained his senses and clambered to his feet, but as he turned to face them, the ground continued shaking, and everybody turned to see the red and silver Tyrannozord powering through the ruined city towards them.

"Hey guys," I called into the radio. "Gateway's shut, thought we'd come and lend a hand."

"Yeah," said Jason, as the Tyrannozord reached the two zords and turned to face the monster. "Wait, this is Callan?"

"Negative," replied Billy. "Our foe is General Wolfbane, who was masquerading as the real Callan all along."

In the MegaIguanodon, Scott nodded, and smiled. "We'll explain later."

"So Wolfbane's been impersonating a Ranger for six hundred years and he's still in one piece?" Jason asked.

"Trust me, we're about to change that," said Ian.

Across from us, Wolfbane took a faltering step towards the three zords, crushing a building under his foot. "That Power Coin is mine," he growled softly, his eyes a picture of ancient hate. "And I will destroy you all to claim it..."

"No," Ian replied, shaking his head. "This coin was a gift, given to people who knew what it meant, like Callan. He understood, but you never could've. Let's finish this. Rhamphorynchus crossbow mode!" The MegaIguanodon raised its arm and the purple Rhamphorynchus detached from the zord's back, lowering down onto the zord's hand, wings suddenly in the shape of a crossbow and long thin tail now a solid weapon pointing towards the monster. "Fire!"

With a burst of energy, the tail bolt blasted across the battlefield, exploding through the air and slamming squarely into its target, piercing Wolfbane's armour and re-emerging through his back. There was a second of silence as the monster stared dumbly at the hard light projectile embedded in his chest, then suddenly, he slowly fell backwards, and was destroyed in a cataclysmic explosion that shook the abandoned city and sent a glowing fireball and a plume of smoke roaring skywards.

Watching from the zord's cockpit as the smoke cloud began to clear, Ian sat back and nodded. "This one was for you Callan," he said softly. "Wherever you are."

"Good work guys," said Tommy from the Dragonzord. "We did it, all of us."

"Yeah," said Kim. "Awesome job."

Brendan glanced back down to the temple behind the zords, to see Trystenn cautiously emerging from the building, staring in wonder up to the three zords. "Uh, guys?" he began, as the MegaIguanodon turned back to Azhron's rightful heir. "I think we owe somebody a bit of an explanation. C'mon..."

* * *

We all left the zords, teleporting down to the street below and materialising in twelve bright flashes of light. Billy, Tommy and Ian stepped over to the young dark-haired soldier standing by the temple courtyard, while Brendan quickly explained who Prince Trystenn was to the rest of us. 

Trystenn glanced from Billy to Tommy as they joined him, still in a state of shock. "So, you're all Power Rangers?" he asked slowly.

Billy nodded. "Affirmative," he replied. "I apologise for our earlier deception."

"Yeah," Tommy said. "We were having a... rough couple of days."

Trystenn nodded and smiled. "Probably for the best," he replied. "The only Ranger we've ever known was Callan, or at least, who we all thought was Callan."

Ian stepped forward. "Well, without Wolfbane, Azhron is yours again," said Ian. "Back the way it should be. Without a leader, the Shadow Knights should pretty much fall apart. I doubt they'll cause you any more trouble."

"We've already begun rounding them up," Trystenn replied. "With luck, exile will suit them well."

"Still, the city's yours to restore," Tommy said. "Take care of it."

Prince Trystenn nodded slowly. "I'm still not even sure this has all happened," he said. "My family has fought Wolfbane and fled from his Shadow Knights for almost six hundred years, generation after generation." Trystenn paused. "Yet in the space of one morning, you all arrived and changed everything. How did you do that?"

"It's just what we do," Jason replied.

Beside him, Ian glanced to the rest of the team before turning back to Trystenn. "Speaking on behalf of the team though, we do have one request."

"Name it," Trystenn replied. "Anything that's within my power."

"Tell everybody who returns to the city that Callan was innocent," Ian began, "and that your enemy was the traitorous General Wolfbane all along. Callan the Grey Ranger died a hero, and that's how he should be remembered."

Trystenn held his hand to his heart, in what looked to us to be a salute. "It will be done," he said, honesty in his eyes. "You have my solemn promise."

"One more addendum," Billy said quickly. "Back home, our identities are not a matter of public knowledge. If you could perhaps refrain from mentioning our names in the retelling of the story?"

Trystenn laughed. "It will be done," he said. "Or, not done, I suppose."

Ian nodded. "Thank you," he said, and turned back to the rest of the team. "Well guys, we've done everything we needed to do," he said. "I think we can head home."


	8. Chapter 8

Author's notes -- Final chapter here, friends. I hope everybody enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it :).

**Chapter Eight**

Goldar was still standing by Rita's telescope in the observatory when Rita returned to the lunar palace, and hearing her walk into the room, Goldar spun around to face her, only to step back in surprise. Her shoulders hunched over, Rita's head was lowered in despair and she was walking slowly and tiredly, one weary footstep after the other. He could see neither the key nor the Book of Hades, and her wand was broken, the red orb shattered.

She appeared, in essence, totally defeated.

Without even a glance to Goldar, Rita crossed the room towards her throne, and Goldar stepped towards her.

"My empress, did you manage to open the Gateway?" he asked, but immediately regretted speaking - the answer was plainly obvious.

Rita shook her head sadly, still without looking up. "The Rangers interrupted the ceremony, destroyed my wand and forced me to flee," she mumbled. "And now they've got both the book and the key. We can forget about opening the Gateway, Goldar. Ever."

His brows lowered, and Goldar pressed on. "But, my queen, you promised..."

"Forget about it," Rita interrupted, turning to face him, and only then could Goldar see the true depth of tired defeat in Rita's eyes.

The briefest hint of anger crossed Goldar's face. "What?" he asked.

"I said it's over," she repeated, and briefly, she glanced back past the balcony to where the Earth sat slowly spinning uninterrupted in its orbit. "It's just not worth the effort." And with that, Rita turned and walked away, disappearing into her private chamber and leaving a completely shell-shocked Goldar standing alone in the empty throneroom.

* * *

The twelve of us teleported back into the Command Centre victoriously, appearing in the centre of the room before Zordon's plasma tube and immediately demorphing. 

"Rangers," Zordon began with a beaming smile, and we could hear the joy in his voice, a direct contrast to the fear Jason and I had heard earlier that day. "After you'd left, Alpha and I found that we were able to monitor the planet's surface quite successfully, and have been watching Azhron for the better part of the day."

"A side effect of us destroying the tower?" asked Trini.

Zordon nodded. "Exactly," he began. "And let me congratulate you all on a job well done. You unmasked General Wolfbane, stopped his plans for conquest and came to the rescue of Prince Trystenn and the refugees by defeating the Shadow Knights. And more importantly, above everything else, you cleared Callan of any wrongdoing, and for that you all have my gratitude."

"Will Trystenn be okay?" asked Tommy.

"Like too many others, Trystenn had to learn the ways of warfare far too early," Zordon replied. "He is a strong man, and will undoubtedly make a good king. I dare say that the city of Azhron will have returned to its former glory within several years, and now that we're able to, I have every intention of maintaining contact with Trystenn whenever we can."

Everyone glanced around to each other and Zordon continued, looking down to Jason and I. "Congratulations to you both as well, for not only preventing Rita from opening the Gateway, but defeating her and obtaining both the key and the Book of Hades," he said. "Even as we speak, droids from the Command Centre are sealing up the entrance and taking care of the lava beast. We will place several force-fields in the cave powered directly from the Command Centre's generators to ensure the Gateway is never reopened, and the book of Hades will be placed in a containment field and locked in a vault deep under the mountain." Zordon paused, smiling. "We won two battles on two fronts this afternoon, Rangers, and I am proud of you all."

Jason stepped forward. "Zordon," he began slowly, "I just want to say I'm sorry, for the things I said yesterday..."

Zordon nodded. "There's no need to apologise," he replied. "I might be thousands of years old, but this last adventure has taught me that I am still very fallible. Jason you were right to question me, and I encourage you to do so in the future. I withheld information from Callan, after all, and had I not, things today may have been very different," and Zordon glanced down to the Grey Ranger standing at the front of the room. "But my personal thanks to you, Ian. Without you, Callan may still be held as a villain, and I cannot tell you how much it means to me that you cleared his name."

Ian nodded. "It's just a shame, that's all," he said, "that so many people thought he'd turned bad, us included. He was a hero."

"People often forget that there is a human face under our masks," Zordon said. "It is that humanity that defines us. But no matter how hard we try, part of being human is that we will inevitably make mistakes. But _unlike_ Rita, it is our acknowledgment of those mistakes that separates us from the likes of her, Varian or Wolfbane. I'm sorry to say but there will always be shades of grey in what we do, Rangers - but we should _never_ stop trying to find ways to better ourselves, to do the best we can, and to make a positive difference in the world. It is our duty, our place, and anything else would be an injustice."

There was a minute of silence as we all took this in, and Alpha turned to Tommy. "As for your powers, Tommy, we'll continue looking for alternative sources of power," the robot said. "We won't stop until..."

"You know what Alpha, that's cool," said Tommy. "After today we've all earned a break."

"Indeed," said Zordon, "but we still have one more task to fulfill this day," and suddenly, the key to the Gateway appeared with a flash on the control panel beside Jason. "Rangers, if you could take the key outside." The Red Ranger picked up the key and turned around, and we followed Jason out into the hallway. Although he remained inside his plasma tube, Zordon's voice continued to echo out to us through speakers in the walls. "The key to the Gateway is protected by mystical enchantments, shielded on a molecular level from any kind of applied force, which means essentially that it cannot be destroyed. However, we can send it somewhere where nobody be able to reach it."

With that, the enormous double doors at the end of the hallway opened, and we all walked towards them, stepping out of the Command Centre into the bright sunshine, breathing in the fresh mountain air.

"Rangers, if you will," said Zordon. Understanding what Zordon had in mind, we all stood in a close circle around the key, shoulder to shoulder, and reaching forward, everyone placed their hands under Jason's. Within seconds, the metallic key began to glow brightly.

"Let's send this puppy on its way," smiled Zac, and with that, the key shot up into the sky, teleporting through the clouds into the upper atmosphere at an impossible speed. It disappeared from sight almost instantly, the teleportation streak vanishing into the glare of the burning sun.

"Well done," said Alpha, standing beside us, as we all watched the key disappear. "Travelling at that speed, the key should reach the sun in about five minutes."

Still watching the sky, Jason nodded and glanced over to me. "And the Gateway will stay shut forever," he said. "And at least we won't have to go three rounds with the lava beast again."

I smiled, as beside me, Brendan turned to Ian. "Hey," he began, and Ian turned to him. "What was that you mentioned yesterday, about a big surprise in the next couple of days?"

At this, everybody turned to look at Ian, and Teresa nodded. "Yeah," she said. "I think after everything that happened we're pretty much all surprised-out. So what's the deal?"

Ian blushed, glancing around quickly to find all of us looking at him. "I'm sorry, I guess there's no point now," he said. "Back in Goondiwindi, my dad is a police officer, Sergeant Ben Thompson," he explained. "And he's getting transferred. To Caloundra, actually. Right now my parents are in Caloundra checking out our new house. We move from Goondiwindi in two days and I start at Currimundi State Primary School in the middle of the week."

There was total, absolute silence as everybody took this in.

"Ian... that's... what?" stuttered Scott.

"You're serious?" asked Tommy finally.

With that, Ian couldn't help but smile that disarming grin and glance around the group. "Um..." he began, then shrugged innocently. "Surprise!"

* * *

True to his word, Ian's family arrived in Caloundra two days later, and he introduced us all to his parents and older brother. Ian joined Brendan and I in class 6D on Wednesday, only a week and a half until the winter holidays, and for the rest of the week, everybody helped Ian's family move in to a two-storey house only a few blocks behind mine. And that Friday after school, we decided to officially welcome Ian to the city with a picnic down at Currimundi beach. 

"...but the Power Rangers arrived on the scene before the monsters could do any real damage," crackled the newsreader's voice through the radio, "and while the Junior Team fought the troop of soldiers, the Senior Team confronted the monsters, destroying one before teleporting away. We repeat, that was the last known sighting of the Power Rangers. And that's the four o'clock news update. Now, it's over to Sunshine FM's roving reporter, Zach Leonard. Where are you today Zach?"

"Thanks Joe! It's the Z-man here, coming at you live from the boardwalk in Caloundra. We've got..."

Teresa switched off the radio sitting at the end of the wooden picnic bench and turned back, looking down onto the beach and smiling as she watched everyone except for Trini and Kim (who'd quickly ducked away to pick up lunch from the shop across the road) play a tumbling game of beach football, laughing and shouting as they raced around on the hot sand.

"Hey," came a voice, and Teresa looked back to see Kimberly and Trini returning, each carrying bundles of fish and chips, crumbed sausages, meat pies and sausage rolls. "Lunch is served," grinned Kim, as they placed the food onto the bench. "I'll just run down and get the others, don't start without us," and the Pink Ranger dashed down onto the sand.

Trini smiled and turned to Teresa. "You were looking very thoughtful there."

Teresa nodded. "I was just thinking," she said, watching Kim run across the beach. "It's like we were all meant for each other, you know? We came together to fight monsters and save the world, but that's not why we stay together. That's not why we work."

"I hadn't thought about it like that," Trini replied. "I think you're right though."

By now, Kimberly had rounded up everyone on the beach, and we all charged back up the grassy dunes towards the bench, reaching Teresa and Trini and somehow managing to cram ourselves around the small table. Zac, of course, immediately began pilling food on his plate.

"Awesome," he said, pouring himself some cola and beginning to eat.

Watching him, Teresa couldn't help but smile. "You know Zac, I think I'm beginning to see a pattern here with you," she said, and everyone laughed.

Sitting at the end of the table across from Jason and I, Ian smiled and glanced around the group. "Thanks for this guys," he said. "You know, this really is an awesome place to live."

I nodded. "Heck of a first adventure though," I said. "Definitely one for the books. Are you sure you're okay, I mean, after everything that happened?"

Ian smiled and nodded. "Totally," he said. "I just keep thinking about Callan. You know, we spent all weekend thinking that he'd compromised, that he was our badguy. And we were wrong - it cost him everything but he was still a hero, still a Ranger. Zordon was right. Heroes shouldn't compromise, they shouldn't have to. We're better than that. And I'm just glad to be here, and be a part of everything."

Jason nodded and leaned forward, a tiny suspicion at the back of his mind. "So when are you going to tell us how you made sure Caloundra ended up being the place your dad had to transfer to?" he asked.

Ian glanced back to me and grinned. "I think that's a story for another time and place," he replied.

Down the table, Kimberly turned to Tommy beside her. "And what about you, Mr 'I flattened an army unmorphed'?" she said. "I can't believe we all missed it."

Tommy shrugged. "I just imagined that you were with the refugees in the temple and everything else just came naturally." Kim smiled, and he continued. "Besides, I only needed someone to remind me of something important."

"What?" Kimberly asked.

Tommy smiled. "That heroes are heroes, and power coins just aren't that big a deal," he said, and across the table, Billy blushed. "And hey, I wasn't the guy who soloed Staghorn without even breaking a sweat."

At that, the Blue Ranger blushed even redder, and sitting next to him, Trini smiled and wrapped an arm around Billy's shoulder. Billy Cranston could be just so adorable sometimes.

Watching them, Jason turned to me and tapped my shoulder. "You remember what you said last week about pizzas and old movies? Can we add beach picnics to the list too?" he asked, finishing off the last of his lunch.

I nodded. "Totally. You up for another game of beach football?"

"Are you kidding?" asked, and with a grin, he leaped to his feet and grabbed the football. "I'll take you all on myself!" And with the ball tucked under his arm, Jason charged back down onto the white sand.

Watching him go, everyone immediately jumped to their feet. "Get him!" I cried, and with that, we all leaped over the table and raced down onto the beach after him, everyone laughing and happy in the warm afternoon sun.

* * *

_And six hundred years earlier, Callan the Grey Ranger collapsed against the stone tiles, unmoving. His breath was gone, his life draining away, his heartbeat growing fainter. In those few seconds he understood - he'd underestimated his opponents and been blinded by his own need for revenge. But even as he watched Varian fall to Wolfbane's blade, none of it seemed to matter anymore. The heroes would win eventually, he knew. It's just what they did._

_His heart gave its last beat, and fell still. It hurt less now, surprisingly, and to Callan's confusion the world around him was growing brighter, not darker. Then he heard them, voices he hadn't heard in many years from behind the light, the voices of his wife and son, greeting him once again. _

_And Callan the Grey Ranger died with a smile on his face._

The End.


End file.
